Moonlight Reflections
by LadyShadow26
Summary: To say the night had not gone as planned would be a bit of an understatement. In retrospect, maybe he should have listened to the warnings he had been given. Then again, when did he ever listen? Secrets are revealed as the truth comes to light for two very similar boys. (Slightly AU)
1. Warnings

Moonlight Reflections

 _ **~Authors Note~**_

 _Hello everybody and welcome to "Moonlight Reflections" Originally this was supposed to be a short one shot written for my lovely Beta DisconsolateMist birthday, but my muse decided to laugh at me and say hey...you know what would be REALLY fun? If you expanded this to a full nearly 10k word story… Thus this MONSTER was born. Now with multiple chapters for more fun!_

 _At any rate...huge thank you goes out to my beta reader for her help in editing this thing and giving it cover-art (Even though it was supposed to be a gift for her. Well I gave her the unedited version for her actual birthday so that counts for something right?) as well as dear Hebiaczek who has helped me get through the drafting process of this story. (Also helped me write Akakos prophecy) You're both wonderful and I seriously couldn't do this without you! Thank you so much!_

 _All that said: Standard disclaimer applies. I do not own Magic Kaito or Detective Conan. If I did there would certainly be more interaction and allying between Kaito/Conan. Please support the original creators work!_

 _Version 1.2 of chapter 1. Because of this being a 9,000+ word story my beta and I missed several key grammatical errors which have since been pointed out by the wonderful guest reviewer Rockster._

 _Version 1.3 Due to the length of chapter 3, chapter 1 has now been separated into two separate chapters to remain more consistent._

 _ENJOY!_

_~^.v.^~_

It was a pretty average day at Ekoda High. There had been rumors flying around about the newest art gallery that had just been built in Tokyo, that was supposed to be the site of many different exhibits from around the world. It was the topic of the day, further accented by the fact that there had recently been a notice sent out by KID. It stated that he was targeting the centerpiece of the exhibit "Perseus Shield", said to be an old relic from the country of Greece.

Kaito chuckled as he browsed over the news article regarding his latest target. There was a large, full color picture of the shield slapped at the top, above the usual heist note. Despite its supposed age, it was in relatively good condition. It was made of a highly reflective material that earned it the nickname of "Mirror Shield." The description below the picture went into detail about the myth connected to it. According to the story, the hero, Perseus, had supposedly received the shield from the gods as a gift to help defeat the monster gorgon, Medusa. Its reflective quality allowed him to approach the monster without having to look her directly in the eye.

At the top of the shield lay the true target of the heist: the "goddess eye" gemstone. A large, lapis lazuli gem, as old, if not older, than the shield itself. While the shield and its legend held a mystical quality about it, the gemstone had been the thing to truly catch Kaito's eye. Supposedly "blessed by the goddess Athena", it was said to have mythical abilities that varied from story to story. It was a near perfect candidate for Pandora, and Kaito wasn't about to let this opportunity slide by.

He was so focused on the article, he didn't even hear Akako slink up behind him. "So, the great thief in white is at it again," she stated simply, her voice sending negative chills up Kaito's spine, not helped by the fact she was practically breathing down his neck. He hated when she did that.

Kaito refused to meet her gaze. They had been through this routine a thousand times before, and it seemed she still hadn't gotten the message. "Looks like it," he stated somewhat excitingly, smiling lightly to himself while trying to shrug her off. Where was Aoko when he needed her? Probably off complaining to someone or other about this latest KID development. At least she knew how to distract the aggravating witch. Well her and Hakuba, who was also conspicuously absent having returned to England for a time on some important business or other.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Akako lower her eyebrows at him, as she dropped into a low whisper. "I wouldn't do this, if I were you." Her voice carried a strange, almost concerned, air to it. Kaito was alerted to the fact that she was speaking seriously. A piece of him told him he should listen to what she had to say, while his mind continued to rebel, stubbornly refusing to fall to some witch's freaky psychic ability.

Thus, as usual, he played the part of the fool. "I don't know what you're talking about." He continued to refuse to meet her gaze, despite feeling a force practically pushing him to do so. Akako's charm magic had never had any effect on him, but that didn't mean he hadn't felt the force of her other strange powers pushing against him. It was like a magnetic force fighting against her very presence.

Akako gritted her teeth in obvious annoyance. "Must we really do this again?" she asked, and Kaito was surprised at the almost pleading tone in her voice. That was enough to get him to turn around and face her if for only a moment, meeting her dark gaze with his own.

Kaito lowered his indigo gaze at her. "Akako. As I've told you, and the annoying Brit a thousand times over… I. Am. Not. KID. Got it?" For a few minutes, their eyes locked, neither one giving the other ground.

Finally Akako shook her head, giving in. "You're absolutely impossible. Fine. Your stubbornness to admit the truth will be your ultimate undoing. I refuse to help someone who won't even acknowledge the fact that they are clearly blind." Akako turned as if to leave, though she lingered momentarily.

A dark aura suddenly surrounded her as she spoke in a low, cold voice. Was it just him, or had the temperature in the room just dropped? " _Eyes sewn shut by an invisible thread hide what cannot be seen, until shadows grow thick, slithering under the moonlight. Only under the holy light of wisdom shall truth be revealed to its namesake, the demon of light_." With that, Akako walked away, not even glancing back at the now dumbstruck Kaito.

Kaito was left with an uneasy feeling in the back of his chest for the rest of the day. While he hated to admit it, Akako had genuinely helped him out in the past. He still didn't understand why she bothered, what with her wanting him dead and all, but nevertheless the fact remained. Her predictions were generally accurate, and he had definitely been through some rough patches in the past that she had been more than willing to warn him of beforehand. Regardless, now wasn't the time to bow out. He had made up his mind, and he was going to do this.

_ ~^.v.^~ _ 

A few days later, Kaito had nearly forgotten the uneasy feeling, as he sat in his father's hidden room setting up some of the final preparations before the heist the next day. He paused as he heard the dial tone ring on his laptop, telling him his mother was calling via video messenger. Kaito sighed a bit to himself, putting aside the blueprints for a bit to go answer the call. Luckily, he had brought his laptop inside the room with him.

"Yo. Okasan. I'm kind of busy tonight, so could we keep this call short? I really have to get back to work." He stared tiredly at the screen. He could see in the back ground that his mother was somewhere in America again. It had been a while since they had last chatted, having had only spoken to each other shortly after the Mother's day heist he had pulled. That had been an interesting incident, indeed.*

Kaito watched as his mother frowned at him on the other side of the screen, crossing her arms. "Really, Kaito, is that any way to talk to your mother, whom you haven't spoken to in weeks?" She continued to stare at him disapprovingly.

Kaito inwardly rolled his eyes at her, though his face remained expressionless. He had long since learned to take her reactions at face value. They both knew very well how much the other missed them. "Sorry." He apologized halfheartedly. "Like I said, you know I'm really busy." There were unspoken words there that he knew his mother would understand. He shifted a bit, uncomfortably, anxious to get back to his plans.

His mother remained silent on the other end of the line before sighing. "Actually, Kaito…that's kind of the reason I called. I need to talk to you about something. It's rather urgent." Kaito watched his mother's facial expression, wary of her sudden change in attitude. Though it remained straight-laced, there was something about the tone in which his mother spoke that made him flinch. There was a serious edge to her voice. It was something he rarely, if ever, heard from her. It actually held that same air of muted concern he had heard from Akako the other day.

"Kaito...? Kaito are you listening to me?" he was broken from his thoughts as he realized he had involuntarily begun to stare off into space, his mind on other things.

He nodded lightly. "I'm sorry mom. I'm just really distracted tonight. Go on. I'm listening." He smiled a light grin at her, though he was still inwardly distracted. He tried his best to tune into what his mother was saying, but his head began to involuntarily droop half way through her conversation.

"...it's really risky. You should cancel the heist." Kaito's head shot up. What was this all of the sudden?

"What?!" He exclaimed pushing his chair backwards, and nearly falling out of it, before quickly steadying himself and recovering. He stared at his mother incredulously. "What do you mean, 'cancel the heist'? Mom, the heist is tomorrow! Everyone already knows I'm coming, and are expecting me to be there! I can't bow out now…" he stared at his mother's blank facial expression, momentarily losing his composure. She couldn't be serious right now! Of all the ridiculous things to say… She of all people should know why he couldn't just let this one go. Not when this was the closest he had come to a lead on Pandora in a long while.

"I know. Still, this is extremely dangerous Kaito… you don't know the forces you are dealing with here." his mother's voice was low, and continued to hold a dark edge to it. Kaito could tell there was something hidden in her words, and he didn't exactly like the sound of it. That same sinking feeling he got with Akako's message came back to haunt him, but he quickly pushed it away.

Kaito gritted his teeth before letting out a breath and replying. "Mom, you know I love you, and I respect your opinions, but I have to do this. I showed you before I can take care of myself. Can't you just trust me on this one? Please?" He could see the reflection of his father's room around him. It carried with it a heavy presence that steadily boosted his determination. He could do this. He **had** to do this.

His mother sighed and shook her head. No matter how she hid it, he could see that her own resolve was breaking. "You know I do Kaito. Just...promise me you'll be careful. Okay?" She smiled her normal bright smile at him, clearly hiding whatever she was truly feeling inside.

Kaito nodded at her, his own face radiating confidence, despite a suddenly mixed feeling inside his chest. "I promise. I won't let them get away with taking what doesn't belong to them tomorrow night. After all…" Kaito stood up, and there was a poof of smoke before Kaitou KID was before the screen in all his white glory. He grinned at his mother, giving her a small bow and a wink. "It's my job." he said in the deeper voice he reserved for when he was dressed this way.

His mother nodded back at him, and replied quietly. "Good luck Kaito. Stay safe, and take care of yourself. Until we meet again." With that, the call ended and Kaito returned to the final preparations for the next nights heist.

_~^.v.^~_

Kaito chuckled to himself. The whole heist had gone on without a hitch. He couldn't believe the still priceless looks on the Task Force face's when he disappeared alongside his target. Although, he still held an uneasy feeling in his chest that told him that things weren't quite over yet. Not to mention he had felt the presence of eyes on him all night...someone was watching him, and he didn't particularly care for their gaze.

Kaito glanced around the top of the roof, quickly finding it to be silent and free of any unwanted attention. Good. That would give him time to check if this was what he was looking for. He silently lifted the shield, watching it reflect the moonlight. He held his breath, half taking in the beauty of the sight, half in hopes that he had finally found what he was looking for. The "goddess eye" glowed a bright bluish white as it caught the rays of the moon, but his hopes fell as he noticed no additional glow. Another dud then…

Kaito sighed, slowly lowering the shield. He had really hoped he had been onto something with this one. Here he had been at this for over a year now, and there were still no signs of what he was looking for. It was truly disheartening. It seemed like he would be stuck as KID forever at this rate. He held tight to his poker face, even though there was no one around to see him.

Once again he lifted the shield up towards the moon, staring deep into his own reflection. Suddenly he noticed something in the shadows. He shifted slightly, unsure if they were friend or foe. Well most likely foe, but he felt no malice in their gaze so probably not one of Snake's men at least. He lowered his eye's, keeping his grin intact. "You can come out now. I know you're there," he stated simply. He was ready to bolt should the situation warrant it, but right now he was more curious who had managed to find him up here.

Refusing to turn around and face the figure, but holding his second hand on his card gun he glanced into the shield as the figure in the shadows stopped as if to assess him. Something had clearly caught their gaze, although what it was he couldn't be certain. His own eyes widened, however, as the figure stepped forward. He had to blink a couple of times as he saw what he thought was a reflection of himself, staring back at him with hard, concentrated eyes.

"I wasn't really trying to hide. Though, honestly, I was curious...I've seen you do that before and I've always wondered why," a voice far too high pitched, and also strangely familiar spoke out.

Kaito whirred around, trying his best not to show his surprise, and confusion at the new arrival. Standing before him was the bespectacled miniature detective staring at him with the same eyes he had just seen in the reflection, but decidedly not the same face exactly. He had to admit Tantei-kun did resemble an odd younger version of himself, albeit with a somewhat broken reflection.

That left him to wonder what he had just seen though...had that been some sort of strange illusion of the light? He shook his head, as an afterimage pasted itself over the small detective's body, looking to all the world like an eighteen-year-old version of the kid without the glasses. It was somewhat disconcerting, and he found himself nearly stumbling backwards before quickly composing himself.

Conan moved forward, with a bit of a muted concern in his expression. "Oi, KID, you alright?" he asked quietly as he continued to move forward, and Kaito found himself backing up instinctively.

He put on his usual grin, trying to hide the strange feeling he had at the moment. Something inside him was surging, and was it just him, or did the world seem just a bit...brighter at the moment? He quickly shook the feeling off. Now was not the time for such things. Concentrate. He needed to concentrate.

"Aww...you do care, Tantei-kun! I'm flattered." Kaito stood up straight, whatever he had just been feeling slowly fading as he concentrated on Conan's face. He still felt a bit dizzy, but his senses were slowly returning. "I see you managed to decipher my note, as usual." He grinned, backing away, shield still in hand. There was an uneasy feeling still in the air, and he didn't particularly feel the need to hand it over just yet...

Conan rolled his eyes. "A grade schooler could of figured out that note, KID. It wasn't exactly that difficult." Conan crossed his arms, looking completely unimpressed.

There was something about that last statement that irked Kaito a bit, though he didn't let it show, save a small eye twitch. Tantei-kun wasn't playing around with words tonight. Something told Kaito he had had a bit of a rough week. Still, he wasn't going to let him off that easy. "Oh? Then I guess it was perfect for one such as yourself, eh, Tantei-kun?" Kaito watched as he received a visual reaction for that last statement, before quickly dodging as a fast moving object sped his way. He had expected a reaction, but not one quite like that.

"I'm not in the mood to play games tonight, KID. Just hand over the shield." There was a sharp tone to Conan's voice that Kaito didn't particularly like. It was clear he'd hit some sort of nerve...though, why the detective was acting so violent about it, he couldn't be certain. He had only meant it as a joke. He knew the detective was much more intelligent than your average grade schooler.

Again, the image flashed in his mind that he had seen in the shield. Perhaps that was why? He had always thought Tantei-kun a worthy adversary on par with the likes of Hakuba, if not even a bit more intelligent than that. He had seen the way the grade schooler acted around cases too, he certainly wasn't your average kid. He really was something more akin to an adult detective, or teenage, at least. Still, mature or not, he couldn't just comply to his request. Not yet, at least.

"I can't do that, Tantei-kun. At least not yet." He still felt a sense of disquiet. Something wasn't right here and he didn't like it at all.

Suddenly he turned, quickly whirring around in the dark. He had just heard something akin to a gun being cocked. His senses were on full alert, and strangely acute at the moment. He leaped out of the way just as a bullet whizzed by, jumping down towards Conan, and knocking him to the ground much to the detective's shock.

"Your reflexes are pretty strong, KID. Unfortunately, they won't save you tonight," a low, dark voice rang out. Kaito gritted his teeth, as he continued to cover Conan with the shield, standing in front of him defensively.

"Snake." Kaito snarled, his own voice practically dropping to a growl. So, he had decided to finally show up. It was hard to say where he came from exactly, or how long he had been watching, but none of that mattered right now. "I was expecting you earlier. Running a bit late tonight, are we?"

Snake huffed at that statement, clearly not amused. "I was planning on taking you out quietly...looks like plans have changed. Hand over the shield, KID, or else watch the kid die in front of you."

Kaito flinched, knowing full well that regardless of if he handed it over or not, Snake would no doubt kill them both shortly afterwards. His hand held the trigger on his own gun, at this point trying to assess his surroundings and make a plan to get out of this situation alive. He hadn't factored Conan into his plans tonight.

He took a quick glance back at Conan, who seemed to be in a temporary state of shock. That little kid was definitely a trouble magnet. Things had been going so well just a while ago, and now this. Looked like this night was about to go downhill fast.

"Leave him out of this, Snake. I'm the one you want," he said, continuing to block Conan, who remained silent, probably lost in thought as he assessed the situation. _'Come on kid...get out of here while you still can. Maybe get help while you're at it.'_ he thought to himself, whilst gritting his teeth. This could get ugly real fast.

"You know that I can't let either of you go. It's the _boss's_ orders. Anyone who stands in our way is to be eliminated." Kaito couldn't be certain, but he thought he saw Conan flinch at the words " _the boss"_ out of the corner of his eye _._ Which caused Kaito to be distracted momentarily enough for Snake to get another shot in. Much the same as on the train, the card gun exploded into several pieces. As a result, he dropped the shield from his other hand, reaching over to hold on to the now numb hand out of instinct.

Kaito wasn't exactly sure what happened next, as the world seemed to implode all at once. He watched in absolute shock as Conan slid out from behind him and picked up the fallen shield, using it as a cover. The kid managed to quickly make use of the situation, acting on what could only be described as pure detective instinct. He moved to get behind Snake, surprising him, and pulling out his watch, he darted the man.

It took a short bit to take effect, but just like that, Snake fell to the ground in a heap. Kaito stared at him with wide eyes, before turning to look at the detective. He gazed at the eyes of the boy standing before him, staring down at Snake's sleeping form, and nearly gasped. There was something truly terrifying in those dark orbs. Like someone who had seen far too much… a look so akin to his own, of someone who had stared death in the face on more than one occasion.

They both stood there in silence for a few moments before Conan turned his eyes back to Kaito. He noticed that the detective's gaze had changed to something softer, but still held a certain seriousness to it. He flinched, quickly backing up even further towards the edge of the roof.

"KID." Conan's voice came out slightly cold, and also sounding even more mature than usual. "You mind explaining to me what that was all about?" He motioned at Snake's unconscious body and the gun lying to the side.

Kaito flinched, again unsure how to answer that question. Poker face be damned, his expression wavered. He knew the little detective was quite obviously not going to let him escape without an explanation. Still...this wasn't the place to talk. No doubt the Task Force would be on their way any minute. Which was a blessing in disguise, really. He may not of found Pandora, but due to the efforts of his little Tantei-kun, it seemed Snake was down for the count this time. He owed him for that much.

"I'm sorry, detective..." Kaito mumbled under his voice. "You'll have to hold on."

"Hold on…" Conan's eyes widened as Kaito smirked, and scooping both the boy and the shield up, he leaped off the roof as he opened up his glider taking to the sky.

This would give him a bit of time to think about how the heck he was going to explain what the little detective had just managed to do. Though, if he were to be honest, he had a few questions of his own. There had been something bothering him since the Bell Tree incident a few months back. And now that something was coming back to the forefront of his mind. Perhaps a mutual exchange was in order.

He could feel Conan struggle beneath him, but he mostly ignored it. He landed some distance away. In truth, he was beginning to feel that same light headedness he had felt earlier.

It seemed fate was not quite done with Kuroba Kaito tonight, as something inside him began to change the moment he hit the roof top. He fell down to his knees, breathing heavily. The weight of the shield he was holding growing heavier by the moment.

He managed to free both the detective and shield, but even still, it felt as if he was being weighed down by something. It was hard to describe the odd sensation that came next. Almost as if his whole body were left floating adrift in water. Every nerve in his body was left feeling cold and numb.

It would be somewhat terrifying if he could actually focus on what he was feeling right now. He could just barely hear someone calling him in the background, but his entire mind was filled with nothing but white noise. As is, his mind fell completely blank momentarily, and then he blacked out.

_~^.v.^~_

 _ **~Post Note~**_

 _As Alice would say: "Curiouser and Curiouser"_

 _Funny thing? I'm still not done. My beta reader has agreed that this story deserves even more love so this will only be the first part...of however long this crazy thing decides to be. Updates will certainly be infrequent as I have about a dozen or so other projects I need to focus on plus real life. Follow this story if you dare….just don't expect updates right away. I need to give myself a breather._

 _Well what did you all think? Yeah that ending is a bit of a cliffhanger right? Well as I said I do intend to probably expand on this story at some point in time. For now I'll just leave it up to the imagination what the heck just happened there. I hope you all enjoyed._

 _Oh the * Is an indirect reference to Hebiaczeks lovely mother's day story though it could be interpreted as any heist really._

 _Anyway this author really loves comments so if you liked/have something constructive to say about this story please let me know in a review! Until next time!_


	2. Kit kitsune, KID, and the kid

_**~Hello everybody and welcome back to Moonlight Reflections.**_

 _ **Now some of you original viewers may be saying:"Hey this looks familiar!" That would be because originally this was part of chapter 1. I decided due to the length of the first chapter I was going to separate this into multiple chapters to more match up with the lengths of newer chapters. Hopefully that makes sense.**_

 _ **At any rate standard disclaimer as always: I own nothing but my own imagination. Please support Goshos awesome works!**_

 _ **All that said...enjoy!~**_

_~^.v.^~_

When Kaito awoke, he felt disoriented. He blinked a couple of times, trying to get his bearings, only to find himself lost in a pile of familiar fabric. _"Huh?"_ he thought to himself as he glanced at the white suit around him. Something wasn't quite right. Why was his suit lying here on the ground, and why was he not in it? Hadn't he just… he tried to get up and steady himself, only to fall back on shaky legs, and was it just him or did he suddenly feel...shorter.

It was probably just his imagination. Either way, he didn't feel quite strong enough to stand so he just sat there for a minute in the pile of fabric. In the meantime he tried to remember what exactly happened last. He remembered doing the heist… he glanced over next to the pile of clothes he was in, and noticed the shield lying to the side discarded. Why was it over there?

His mind remained foggy. There were a lot of missing details about the past few hours events. The last thing he truly remembered was flying away with the shield...and something...or was it someone...in hand, then landing here on the roof. Then it had all went blank.

He shook his head, feeling a bit of vertigo still lingering. He felt something itchy against his nose, and reached up to scratch it, only to find himself drawing his hand back in surprise. Since when did his hand look so furry, and balled up for that matter? That...that was not his hand, nor his arm for that manner. That was a furry, white and black appendage that belonged very much to an animal of the non-human variety.

He glanced back at it, testing its movements just to be sure. His eyes widened as he watched it flex and move at his command, and then was equally surprised as claws shot out before retracting back in. What in the world? This...this wasn't possible. Then again, Kaito had seen some pretty impossible things over the past year or so. Still, he had to be sure.

Crawling quietly over to the place where the shield was lying, he stared silently at his reflection. Only to see a sapphire eyed, pure white fox with odd silvery-blue markings, staring back at him. He couldn't help himself, he jumped backwards with a start, landing on his fe...paws.

A dream. This had to be a dream. A dream brought on by Akako and his mother's strange warnings. Yeah...that made sense, right? Kaito lifted a paw to his shoulder and brought out his retractable claws, raking them against his fur, only to yelp in pain and come back with just a bit of crimson on his deep midnight black paw. Okay. Clearly not a dream.

Maybe he should have listened to those supposedly crazy warnings. If he had, perhaps he wouldn't be in this strange situation. Though, he had to wonder how much those two actually knew about the predicament he was in right now. They had both been cryptic in their wording, but something about what his mother had said bothered him.

" _You don't know the forces you're dealing with here._ " At the time, Kaito had thought there was hidden meaning in those words. Now, he was starting to see a bit more what she had meant.

Though, that brought to mind the question: _"How much do you know about this, mom? Are you still hiding secrets from me, even now?"_ Kaito gritted his teeth. He had to admit, despite his initial reaction, he was already getting used to this strange new form, which disturbed him somewhat. It felt almost...natural. Which made him all the more suspicious of his mother. Could it be she too…?

No. Now was not the time for such things. He needed to figure out what was going on here. He needed to think more on the events of the night, and figure out how the heck this happened in the first place.

The rooftop where he sat, trying to piece together his memory, was surprisingly silent. He vaguely recalled that someone had been with him earlier… Ah, yes. There he was, sitting there on the other side of the roof, staring at him a confused, and almost terrified, look on his face. Well, he couldn't blame him exactly. It wasn't every day a human transformed into a fox in front of you. He had no doubt that the little detective had somehow born witness to the entire thing, and was now racking his brain for some sort of rational explanation.

Kaito grinned, showing his fangs in the moonlight. He knew he had a bit of an advantage over the rational mind of the detective here. He still had plenty of questions himself, but at the very least, he knew what this was. Magic. **Real** magic. Though, he had to suspect not quite the same as Koizumi's. From what he could gather of his fragmented memory, this magic partially emanated from the stone in the shield he had stolen earlier. How exactly it worked...well, he would have to figure it out later. For now, he had a detective to face.

He trotted towards him, easily adjusting to his new strides. _"Like what you see, Tantei-kun? I know. It's pretty unbelievable, right?"_ He continued to grin as he watched the detective flinch. Had the detective just heard him speak? Well that was interesting…

Conan started to mumble under his breath, something akin to; "I am not seeing this...I am **not** hearing this." He was obviously pretty dumbstruck at the moment. All the more reason to break in and tease him. At least it would keep his mind off his concerns for now.

" _Ah, but I believe you are. What's the problem, detective? Haven't you ever heard a fox talk before?"_ he felt his tail involuntarily swoosh behind him. He stared up into the bespectacled eyes of his favorite little sleuth, continuing to grin a toothy grin. He was actually kind of enjoying this. _"I'm afraid this is one magic trick you won't be able to simply explain, oh great mei~tan~tei."_

Kaito watched as Conan gulped, his mouth closing and opening slowly. He blinked a couple of times before taking a breath and breathing out. "Holmes always said… 'When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.'" Kaito could practically sense Conan's nerves suddenly becoming just so slightly calmer. No doubt his favorite fictional hero was giving him strength to accept what was undoubtedly a big stretch for him.

Kaito was actually slightly impressed at the detective's attitude. That didn't mean he wasn't going to enjoy this moment, though. Plus, there was something about what he just said that stood out to him. Something that triggered a memory in his mind.

Kaito trudged up closer to the detective sitting down on his haunches and flicking his tail behind him. _"Truth huh? Funny you should mention that. Tell me, detective...you wouldn't happen to know someone who's name means truth?"_ from what Akako had mentioned in her prophecy, the truth was supposed to be revealed by someone of that namesake. Well, he and Conan were the only one's here. So unless he was missing something, there was still more to this.

It became pretty obvious once Conan's eyes widened at the question, similar to a deer caught in the headlights. Seemed he had hit the nail right on the head somehow. "You...how do you know about that?" his voice cracked.

Kaito tilted his head to the side curiously. _"Know about what?"_ he asked innocently, though honestly, he was a bit confused. Did that mean Conan did know someone by that name?

Conan fell silent, simply staring at the ground as if lost in thought. Though Kaito could still see a bit of something inside his eyes resembling panic, as well as...was that sadness? He hadn't expected such a strange reaction from him. All he wanted to know was what connection this "namesake of truth" had to do with the current situation.

It took all his instincts not to jump as Conan looked up at him, his eyes blazing with something unknown. "Shinichi. You're talking about Shinichi, right?"

" _Shinichi."_ Kaito mulled over the name in his mind. It did sound familiar, and he knew that it meant "one truth" when read a certain way. Though, where had he heard that name before? He searched his memory for any recognition of the name.

It was an old memory from back in his early days as KID, but hadn't there been a high school detective by that name? He didn't pay much attention to those detective's outside the one's who chased him, but he did seem to recall Nakamori mentioning the name once. Just after the clock tower heist, wasn't it? Come to think of it, Akako had mentioned a "demon of light" in that premonition as well. That had to be it, then!

Kaito nodded his head excitedly. _"Yes! Shinichi Kudo! I remember now… do you know him?"_ Could the detective hold the key to getting himself out of this situation? It was dangerous to trust a detective, but if it meant finding out the truth behind his current form, maybe it was for the best.

Conan let out a dry laugh. "I guess you could say that… I know him better than anybody."There was something truly strained in the miniature detective's voice.

Kaito waited for him to elaborate a bit on that last point, but Conan fell completely silent, seeming to collapse in on himself. Okay… something was seriously messed up with his Tantei-kun tonight. Was it something he'd said?

Conan stared at his hands, looking lost in his own little world. _"Tantei-kun?"_ Kaito called to him, but he didn't even flinch " _Yo,Tantei-kun!"_ he tried a little louder, though it was difficult to register how loud he was speaking in his current state. Somehow, magic induced telepathy just didn't work the same as having a real voice. He tried one last time. _"Tantei-kun, I know you can hear me. Answer me!"_

Conan finally turned to face him, his face still and cold. It made Kaito shiver a bit, his fur bristling slightly at the sight. Finally he decided to broach the subject that had bothering him for some time now. _"Look, I know I'm hardly in a position to be asking this right now, but are you doing alright there, Tantei-kun?"_ he stared at the detective with curious and concerned eyes, though a bit of the expression was lost in his inhuman face.

Conan just stared at the ground, clearly unwilling to make direct eye contact. "I'm fine," he stated, not even trying to hide the clear bit of irritation in his voice.

Kaito could tell from his experience with profiling others that the detective was anything but "fine". Something was clearly bothering him. Kaito internally rolled his eyes at Conan while he snorted. " _Right, and I'm just your regular, every day, upstanding citizen. Nope. Not buying it. What's eating at you, Tantei-kun? Is it something I said?"_

Conan let out another dry laugh. "You really haven't figured it out yet, huh?"

Once again Kaito tilted his head curiously. Figured what out? There was clearly something missing here. The two of them had just been chatting casually after he awoke like this, that is, until Shinichi Kudo had been brought up. Then, the detective had said...oh.

Suddenly like a flash of bright light, it all came together. The strange mirror image he had seen in the shield earlier, what Conan had said in response to his question about "truth's namesake", plus all of the kid's crazy detective experience. Add all that to the fact that he had reacted so violently earlier to the joke about being an elementary schooler... _"Oh Kami… you're Shinichi Kudo."_ He watched as Conan's face remained still and cold, further confirming his current suspicions.

He paused, unsure how to react to this new information. _"Well, that certainly explains… a lot."_ He stared at Conan...no _Shinichi,_ taking in his face one more time. It was almost uncanny how much he resembled a younger him. Something in the back of his mind told him that he had met Shinichi long ago. Though the memory was quite fuzzy. Felt like there was a lot of that today. He really wished he could talk to his mother right about now.

"Stop that." Kaito was broken from his thoughts as Shinichi spoke up for the first time in a few minutes.

Kaito tilted his head to the side smiling a wide, toothy grin. _"Stop what?"_

"Stop staring at me. It's making me feel awkward. I get enough of that from Hattori you know…" he looked down at the ground, refusing to meet Kaito's gaze.

Kaito gave a laugh, which came out rather airly. " _Forgive me, Tantei-kun. It's just that, honestly, I am more surprised than anything that it took me this long to figure you out. You haven't exactly been subtle about your skills."_ He continued to grin.

"This coming from the one who dresses in **white** to go and steal jewels in the night." Shinichi commented tersely, and with just the slightest hint of venom.

Kaito shrugged as best he could, sitting in front of Shinichi and lifted his front legs in an appeasing gesture. " _Fair point. Honestly, though, I'm still curious as to how this..."_ Kaito tried his best indicate Shinichi's body, " _happened. I am assuming it has something to do with that scientist friend of yours from the train that you were working so hard to protect?_ " Kaito paused and watched Shinichi's reaction. From the flinch he got, seems he had gotten it head on.

Shinichi grunted. "For someone who claims to dislike detective work, that's a pretty interesting deduction." he then mumbled something under his breath, which Kaito's new sensitive hearing picked up akin to "stupid nosey thief."

Kaito waved it off with a snort. " _I'll take that as a compliment."_ he grinned. " _I said it before, and I'll say it again, Tantei-kun, you and I are not all that different."_ he gave the miniature detective a small stare, waiting for some reaction. Once again however, Shinichi remained silent.

Kaito shook his head and trotted over to where the shield was lying abandoned still. Staring at his reflection one more time, he was reminded again of just how strange a situation he was in. Nonetheless, he shook the feeling off, and nudged the shield forward with his head, pushing it towards the detective, who seemed to be lost in his own gloomy paused right in front of the detective's feet, staring up at him.

" _Tantei-kun, look at me."_ he watched as Shinichi slowly acknowledged his presence, blinking absently at him. " _Now, I want you to take a look in this shield, and tell me what you see."_

Shinichi stared at him inquisitively, the question of "why" left unsaid.

Kaito shook his head and grinned. _"Come on. Don't you trust me, detective?"_

Shinichi scoffed at this, raising an eyebrow as if to say "are you serious?", but said nothing as he sighed and begrudgingly looked into the shield. His eye's widened instantly. "That's...that's not possible."

Kaito's grin increased tenfold as he stood there next to the detective, tail swishing back and forth. " _Ah, but I think we both know it is, Tantei-kun. The truth has been revealed to its namesake."_ He didn't even have to glance at the shield to know what the detective saw there. He had seen it earlier, after all. A perfect reflection of Shinichi Kudo. The true Shinichi Kudo. _"You see, no matter how much you've changed, you're still the same person you were before. You just look a little different, that's all."_

Shinichi continued to gaze at his reflection in the shield, clearly unwilling to believe what was right before his eyes. Kaito knew this had to have been part of what was bothering the detective earlier. His own experiences with masks lead him to believe the detective had been lying to himself for some time now. Like it or not, Conan Edogawa and Shinichi Kudo were still one in the same.

Kaito watched as Shinichi closed his eyes, before turning away from the shield altogether. Once again he muttered under his breath, "Stupid thief", before speaking up a bit. "How can you just take this all so casually? You act… you act like none of this changes anything." Shinichi balled his hands in fists, refusing to look at Kaito or the shield. "You and I...we're not similar at all. You don't know what it's like. To be...to be like this" he motioned at himself. "To feel so powerless."

Kaito raised an invisible eyebrow. " _Don't I? Tell me Tantei-kun. Have you ever lost anyone?"_ he could feel his heart beating fast as the memory resurfaced. _"Do you know what it's like to come home one day to find your home empty and cold...to find out that the one person you respected most in the world is just...gone?"_ Kaito couldn't help the twinge of anger in his words. _"I know well enough what it feels like to be powerless… but quite frankly, I expected better from you!"_

Shinichiturned back to face him, his face a mixture between frustration and confusion. "Barou! I have had to lie to my closest friend for the past year and a half, standing by and watching as she cries over me. Meanwhile, I try my damndest not to let her find out the truth about me. You have no room to judge me!"

It was Kaito's turn to fall silent as he took in the detective's last words. He knew his poker face had completely slipped at this point, immediately he realized what Shinichi was talking about, and he found himself relating on a personal level. He didn't need to even put himself in Shinichi's shoes, he was living almost the exact same lie everyday himself. He started to laugh, it coming out sounding almost pained. Funny that it took a situation like this to bring out the true similarities between the two of them.

Shinichi stared at him incredulously, which only made Kaito laugh even harder, and start rolling on the ground. "What's so funny? I hardly think anything about this is humorous, KID."

Kaito stopped laughing for a moment, sitting in front of Shinichi before gazing at him with a look of, "are-you-serious?" Deciding that it was just the perfect opportunity to tease the poor detective, he remained silent before answering. " _Oh, come on, aren't you supposed to be the great Heisei-Holmes? Surely you can figure out why this situation is so hilarious."_

Shinichi stared back at him, a look of frustration pasted on his young face. It took him a few minutes of staring before it seemed it suddenly dawn on him he was talking to a thief-turned-fox. He had been so caught up in everything, he hadn't even thought about that little fact. Nor the fact that said thief probably had a life outside his night job, and it was quite possible that the thief was similar to him in more ways than one.

"You're...a teenager, aren't you," Shinichi finally stated, having come to the conclusion that Kaito had been hinting at.

Kaito grinned like the cat-that-ate-the-canary. " _That's right! He can be taught!" *_ feeling no shame,he watched Shinichi roll his eyes and groan. He continued to grin at him. _"Cheer up, detective. At least you're not the only one getting his secrets revealed tonight."_

Shinichi sighed, shaking his head. "This is….just messed up." he put his head in his hands, collapsing in a sitting position on the cold concrete rooftop.

Kaito snorted. " _Again, you're just figuring this out now? Little slow tonight, aren't we, detective?"_ Kaito swished his tail back and forth before trotting up next to Shinichi. It really was an odd sight. A not-child sitting with his head in his hands next to a supposedly not-fox. Though, Kaito was still unsure on that one. Thus, he taunted the detective in hopes of more answers, even though he was pretty sure Shinichi knew about as much about his current form as he did.

All he received in return was another groan. Under most other circumstances, he would find this highly amusing. As is, he was still trying to figure out for himself how the two of them got in this mess. There were still many secrets left unrevealed here, and it was about time that he started being more open with what was right now his only ally.

Kaito sighed, the sound coming out more as a whimper. His eyes betrayed nothing as he slowly moved his poker face into place, trying to calm his own anxieties. He was actually feeling kind of tired at this point. Whether the exhaustion was coming from the events of the night, or the strange effects of the shield's odd magic, he couldn't be certain.

Suddenly, he found himself grabbed by the neck, as small warm hands pulled him onto an equally small and warm lap. He hid his surprise as he stared up into the face of the chibi-tantei, who had a strangely thoughtful look on his face. "Don't get used to this, KID." Shinichi stated flatly, though his expression betrayed something more sympathetic than not. "I'm only letting you lay here like this because I'm certain you are hiding something from me still, and this is the easiest way to make sure you don't escape."

Kaito was about to retort something along the lines of; _"You know very well you couldn't keep me here."_ but, he remained silent as he looked up into Shinichi's own tired eyes. Clearly, they had both had a very trying night. He decided to let the detective off easy for now. He involuntarily fell into an easy breathing rhythm as Shinichi stroked his silky fur like one would pet a dog.

"So… you aren't the first KID, are you." Kaito nearly jumped at Shinichi's sudden statement. He knew the detective had some questions he had wanted to ask, but he wasn't expecting that to be the first one.

Kaito sputtered, making something akin to a gekkering noise*. _"What...what kind of question is that?"_ he asked, unable to come up with a suitable retort out of simple shock.

Shinichi put one of his hands under his chin in a thinking position. "Well, you confirmed you were a teenager like I am, which is something I was already pretty sure of, so you can relax about that by the way… But honestly, I met the original KID around ten years ago, and my father has a file on him that states he's been stealing for nearly two decades. Obviously, unless you deaged in the same way I did, it wouldn't make any sense for you to be the original."

Kaito had to give Shinichi credit. He was honestly one of the few who had actually noticed this fact. Though, there were probably more out there who knew that he wasn't the original, Shinichi had been the first to outright state it in front of him. He loved Nakamori like an uncle, but he had to admit the man was pretty dull if he still believed him to be the original KID. As much as he would like to pretend he was on the same level as his father in terms of pure skill, he knew he couldn't honestly believe that.

Kaito nodded. " _You're correct, detective. The original...disappeared nearly nine years ago. I only took up the mantle last year after some...interesting circumstances."_ he left the statement open, not wishing to elaborate too much. Shinichi didn't need to know _everything_ , though, Kaito was sure the detective would probably ask anyway.

Shinichi remained silent, clearly contemplating what Kaito had just told him. Kaito could practically see the gears turning in the detective's head, though. It wouldn't be long before the whole truth came out. Still, he was surprised at what Shinichi stated next. "The man I knocked out tonight...he took the life of the original KID, didn't he?"

Kaito stared up at Shinichi, his mouth opening in surprise. It took him a moment to recover before he remembered, ' _Oh...detective. Of course he would come to that conclusion'_ he chuckled lightly. " _You're good, Tantei-kun."_ he said, before dropping into a predatory growl. _"Shortly after I took up the mantle, I heard the truth of my predecessor's death straight from the Snake's mouth. I've been working on drawing them out ever since."_ He turned to look up at Shinichi, who wore a blank expression on his face. _"I should be thanking you. You've managed to do something I've been trying to do since I started this...job."_

"But your mission, it's not complete, is it?" Shinichi looked down at Kaito with the same oddly sympathetic eyes from earlier. Seemed the detective understood. Though, how much was hard to be sure. The situation he was in...it was complicated, and it went much deeper than just Snake.

Kaito glanced over at the shield. Well, perhaps he could explain it a bit that way… " _How much do you know about Greek Mythology, detective?"_ Honestly, it was ironic that the universe was deciding to bring things together this way.

Shinichi gave him another questioning look. "I've read a thing or two...why?"He stared down at him as if confused as to where this conversation was going.

" _It was one of Hercules' twelve feats. Defeat the Hydra. Only, there was a catch...for each of the heads cut off…"_ Kaito left the thought open ended, knowing the detective would catch on pretty quickly.

Shinichi's eyes widened. "Two more sprouted in their place. Then, that _Boss_ he mentioned earlier?"

Kaito shook his head. _"I'm afraid I know very little about that, but I do know there are more of them out there. Now that Snake is down for the count...it's very likely someone will be sent in his place. It's a very dangerous game, detective, and truth be told I'd rather you'd stay out of it."_ before Shinichi could protest, Kaito continued. _"I know better than to believe you'll simply let this matter go. We're far too alike in that regard...but still, I would request you not pursue this matter too far."_

Shinichi sat silently, staring down at Kaito, obviously searching for some sort of response. He flinched when he found the detective laughing. Now that was truly odd… he didn't think Shinichi had a sense of humor, and for once, Kaito himself was being completely serious. " _Hey, what's so funny?"_ he asked, genuinely curious.

Shinichi shook his head, and pulling out his bowtie in an impression of Kaito's voice, he replied, "Oh, come on. You're supposed to be the great Heisei-Lupin. Surely you can figure out why this is so hilarious."

Kaito twitched irritatedly at his own words being thrown back at him. The nerve! Well...he supposed he deserved it, but still. He deserved an explanation.

Well, apparently, the detective was willing to stop laughing long enough to give him one. "Honestly, KID...think about it for a moment. Do you think I chose this form for _fun_?"

Kaito's eyes widened. He brought his paw up to his face in an awkward facepalm. Of course...well, now he felt stupid. He was actually glad for the fur on his face right now, as it hid the hideous blush he had at the moment. After finding out the detective's secret earlier, too. Though, to be fair he still didn't have all the details…

" _Hey, give me some credit!"_ Kaito protested. " _You haven't exactly been the most open about the details regarding your_ _ **little**_ _secret, either,"_ he said, being sure to put emphasis in the right place to get the detective off his case, at least temporarily. " _Also, if I didn't know better, I'd swear you're developing a sense of humor. Scary thought, that."_ he grinned.

Shinichi huffed before lowering his voice in a tone that Kaito could tell wasn't entirely serious. "Careful, KID, I think you forgot just what position you're in at the moment." He grinned evilly down at Kaito, and Kaito suddenly found himself struggling to get out of Shinichi's grip. Shinichi then proceeded to give Kaito a noogie in apparent revenge for his earlier statement.

Suddenly, there was a bluish-white *poof* of smoke, and Kaito was sitting on the other end of the roof. "Hey! That's not fair, picking on a poor defenseless fox like…" Kaito paused, as the sound of his voice came out of his throat, though a bit lighter than usual.

Shinichi just sat there and stared, blinking, behind bespectacled eyes.

Kaito stared back at him, unsure what he was looking at. What? Was there something on his face...again? Shinichi wasn't saying anything, so Kaito decided something weird must of happened once more.

Deciding to stand up and investigate, he suddenly found himself able to stand on two legs again, though these legs were definitely longer than that of a fox's, yet still shorter than that of a fully grown teenager's. Almost like… he glanced down, confirming his suspicions. He was human again! Well, mostly. He could still see a white, fox's tail, which was currently covering his naked extremities. Plus, by his calculations, he was standing just a slight bit taller than Shinichi's current height...so, not back to normal then. Well, that was...interesting.

Shinichi shook his head, clearly thinking the same as Kaito. "What the heck just happened?" The two of them were just sort of messing around with one another, when *poof*, magic boy. Perhaps they would figure this out in due time.

For now… Kaito walked over to where his suit still lay, and quickly sorting through it, found the convenient extra "just in case" pair of kid's clothes. You never know when you just might need a stand-in child assistant. Though, much the same as with women, Kaito did **not** strip children. These were designed to fit over top of an already existing outfit. After a few minor adjustments, he was able to quickly change into the clothes, and now stood, glancing at himself once more in the mirror-like shield that had been set up against the side of the rooftop.

"Hmm...not bad…" he said simply. He then turned to glance at Shinichi who stood, gaping at him, brain still trying to process what had just happened. He grinned. "What do you think, Tantei-kun? We could be twins now!"

There was no reply. This time, Shinichi was the one to black out.

_~^.v.^~_

 _ **~So that's the end of what I originally wrote for this story. Everything from here on in is a collaborative effort between my beta reader and myself. Hope you all will continue to enjoy! Please leave a review/comment to let me know what you think :D Until next chapter!~**_


	3. The day after

_**A/N: This is Misty-chan (Disconsolate Mist). LadyShadow26 agreed to let this story be a collaboration between her and me, so I have written this chapter (mostly)! And had a ton of fun doing it. XD**_

 _ **Anyway, not much else to say other than thanks to LadyShadow26 who started this story for me, and worked on/looked over this chapter with me!**_

 _ **Also, this story has a close bond between Kaito and Shinichi that is not really KaiShin/ShinKai, but could look like it if you squint. That's all! Enjoy!**_

 _ **~AN2~ This is Shadow. Thanks so much to Mist-chan for writing this. Looking forward to working with you more in the future :D**_

 _ **Standard disclaimer as always applies: We do not own Magic Kaito/Detective Conan. All are the properties of Gosho Aoyama. Please support the official work!**_

Kaito's tail flicked in a bit of annoyance as he lightly slapped Tantei-kun's face. The "boy" wasn't coming around very easily. This all must have been too much for his logical brain to handle, dang it. Honestly, it was beginning to be a bit too much for Kaito as well, though he was better at hiding that than Shinichi was. Plus, he was pretty used to this kind of thing.

Secrets seemed to be a pretty common element in his family he was finding. Plus there were any other number of weird elements in his life: be it a crazy robot clone who wanted to "delete" him, a now supposedly deceased pirate who had come seemingly out of the pages of " _Treasure Island_ ", or need he mention the still active insane voodoo witch who wanted him as her eternal slave. Yeah, honestly, turning into a kitsune for some odd reason seemed to be pretty tame in comparison.

"Hey, Tantei-kun!" Kaito cringed at his own high-pitched voice. It had been a rough night for them both, hadn't it? On top of it all, the teenage magician was still feeling a bit weak… for one reason or another. He wasn't positive it was because of pure exertion anymore. Could it be it had something to do with the strange magic at work here? There was certainly something… off about it. "Hey! I can't carry you forever! The Shield is heavy enough on its own."

Kaito had only managed to carry the shrunken detective on his back for about twenty minutes before he was unable to keep going. He had been heading towards Akako's, but he wasn't really sure he wanted to go that way.

Shinichi blinked groggily, looking up through squinted eyes at Kaito. Finally, he was awake. Thank goodness, for many reasons.

"Shinichi…?" Was the first word that came off the detective's lips, then his eyes sharpened, face shifting into full-on shock. "C-Conan?" Was the second word. After that, he shook his head, sitting up slowly with his hand on his forehead. He blinked at Kaito a few times, then his eyes widened considerably. And finally came his third word: "What?!"

Kaito tried his best to keep himself from bursting out into laughter. Yet, he managed to keep a straight face. Kind of.

He said nothing, partially because he was afraid the laughter would probably be released if he did. He watched carefully as realization, surprise, and disbelief all crossed Shinichi's face, almost simultaneously. It was quite an interesting and truly amusing progression.

"Oh, Kamisama…" The detective uttered, burying his face in his hands. There was a tiny moan before he spoke again. "KID, just give me a second." He waved his hand at Kaito, who backed off a bit, letting him slowly collect his bearings. It was an awful lot to process all at once.

After a minute or two, he just let out a sigh and stood up. Brushing off, he walked over to the now-shrunken magician. Kaito watched him with a gentle smile, walking to meet him midway, his tail swishing elegantly.

"Alright, where to now?" Shinichi asked, his voice all business. He could tell the shrunken detective had merely pushed his shock back to think through later. Well, at least they would make progress now.

"I'm not really sure at this point. I was thinking of going to a witch 'friend' of mine." He mumbled under his breath something about using the term "friend" lightly... "But she can be somewhat terrifying and may or may not want me dead. So, if you have a better idea…" Kaito trailed off when he noticed that Shinichi's eye was twitching a bit. Maybe the mention of a witch had thrown the detective off a bit. Oops.

Shinichi rubbed his head, taking a deep breath. "I'm just going to choose to ignore that last bit-"

"Wise choice," Kaito cut in, feeling his ears lay flat involuntarily against his mess of hair. Just the thought of Akako seemed to put his senses on high alert.

Shinichi gazed blankly at him. He then blinked, quickly pulling himself back together. "As I was saying; I don't really have any ideas on where to go at this moment. And, while I don't want to deal with a witch, I don't think any of my friends can help you with the problem you're having. They don't really _do_ magic, as far as I'm aware."

Kaito nodded slowly, biting his lip as he tried to think. He didn't want to risk going to his house in case they ran into Nakamori-keibu. He would probably be coming home late due to the Snake issue.

It would be bad if he ran into Nakamori, as the officer knew what he had looked like as a child. Though, now that he thought about it, he could probably figure out how to get both Shinichi and himself into his house without much chance of anyone noticing them. He was a magician, after all. He just didn't know if he was up to it strength-wise.

"Okay, I have an idea," Kaito announced. Shinichi looked over from where he had started staring off into space, seemingly pondering on something himself, tipping his head curiously.

"Go on." The shrunken detective waved his hand a little impatiently, indicating the magician should continue.

"We can head over to my house. I have food and stuff I can prepare. Then, we can figure out why all this happened." Kaito's tail wagged, and he grinned, showing sharp canines. He had to admit, this situation didn't seem all bad. Still, he was rather curious and a bit excited to find out why he was like this, and how he may be able to change back.

Shinichi broke into a smile as well, not really able to help it. Kaito's smiles seemed to be oddly contagious. "Sounds like a plan. I'm starved! You better be a good cook."

"I'll let you be the judge of that." Kaito called with a snicker, shooting ahead on surprisingly light feet. He heard the pattering of feet behind him as Shinichi scrambled to keep up.

"Oh, by the way, don't be surprised if we have to do some things you wouldn't expect to get into my house," Kaito threw back at the not-child, who was now not too far behind him.

"As if I could be surprised by anything after this whole experience…" Kaito's sharp hearing caught Shinichi's muttered reply.

_ ~^.v.^~ _  
Conan flopped back onto KID's couch, closing his eyes. At this point, it was past one in the morning, and he was purely _exhausted._

KID looked even more tired than he did, as much as he attempted to hide it. He was practically panting, his head falling to the side every now and then as he tried to keep awake. His ears and tail were drooping, and his whole body slumped.

"I didn't realize how late it was," KID mused, as he placed the shield on a table, managing to keep any signs of exertion out of his voice.

Conan let out a hum in reply, not caring to open his eyes. His hopes that this could possibly be a dream had vanished by now. It was much too real, even though it seemed so impossible. There was no way he could deny the facts at this point. There was one thing, though…

"I'm supposing you don't know how to become yourself again?" Conan inquired, opening an eye to look at the phantom thief.

KID bit his lip, seeming to be putting a huge effort into pondering over the matter. Or something along those lines. Conan closed his eye while he did so, taking a deep breath and relaxing as much as he could.

After a minute or two, the teenage thief let out a sigh, and Conan looked to see him shake his head disconsolately.

"No, I don't think I can. It hurts quite a bit when I try," KID explained, getting up from where he had been leaning against the wall and coming to flop down next to Conan.

"Hmm…" Conan could feel himself drift off temporarily, sleep almost overtaking him. "Fox form?"

There was a minute of silence, then a poof sound as KID switched to a fox. Conan blinked his eyes open, looking down to find the phantom thief turned Kitsune panting heavily in his lap, eyes shut tightly.

Conan's hand went automatically to the thief's soft fur, and he stroked it gently. It really was one of the softest things he'd ever felt, he mused. It was so thick and plush. "Does it hurt?"

KID gave a tiny nod, his chin lifting a bit from Conan's lap, then falling back. Conan cringed, hating how weak the thief was now. He'd only ever seen him as strong, in body and will. Yet, whatever that gemstone had done seemed to have sucked a lot out of him.

He had to wonder briefly why no one else seemed to be affected by the shield and consequent gem's power. He had seen for himself that the shield held some other sort of magic in the reflection of his normal form inside it. Could it be that it varied based on the one who interacted with it? KID seemed to know quite a lot more about this than he did, but even he acted pretty confused about the ordeal.

Conan knew very little of supernatural magic, and how it could possibly work. He was raised on human science, after all. Still, here beneath his hands stood irrefutable evidence that it was, in fact very real. He really didn't know what to make of it.

It was only a matter of time before there was another poof, and KID was back in his Conan form. His ears were flat against his head and he cringed a little. The shrunken detective slid his clothes back on, which the thief had most likely slid off before attempting to turn into a kitsune. Conan then chewed his lip, then put his hand against Kaito's head. It was oddly cold, sucking the warmth from Conan's own hand. He pulled it away quickly, shaking it.

"I'm going to take you upstairs, Kuroba. You aren't looking well at all," Conan whispered in the currently boy's ear, gently lifting the thief's head off his own lap.

Kaito raised his brow, eyes closed tight. "How'd you know my name?"

Conan chuckled, working to lift Kuroba onto his back. "It was simple. 'Kuroba' was on the nameplate in front of your house. You also left your homework out on the desk over there. You have 'Kuroba Kaito' written on it."

Kuroba gave a huff of laughter. "Heh, of course. I'm such an idiot."

"No argument here," Conan replied with a chuckle, proceeding to work his way up the stairs with the thief on his back. "Now, which way is your room?"

_ ~^.v.^~ _  
Kaito blinked his eyes open, light flooding in between his eyelashes. He looked over to the window, the source of the light invading his room. The curtains were closed, but they were rather thin, so they didn't keep the light out very well.

He then looked down as something on his bed shifted to find none other than Tantei-kun curled up by his feet like a cat. His breath was steady as he slept peacefully.

Kaito watched his tiny chest as it rose and fell, frowning. His mind was quick to go to their conversation last night. Even with all the craziness that had happened around it, it stood out the most. They had revealed so many things to each other, not caring that they had never met outside of heists. There was something almost magical about how it had happened. Well, if he thought about it, it really was magic that had led up to the whole thing. He couldn't help but laugh, it was just so strange; how the world worked.

Kaito slipped out of bed, pulling his cover back to drape it over Shinichi. He then walked out of his room, tail swishing. He could hear the birds outside his window better than he ever could before, and the scents in his home were almost overpowering. His canines were quite sharper than they had been before as well. There were many other notable changes, but Kaito had thought first on the main and biggest ones, and didn't care to attempt to think on the rest.

He hummed as he walked down into the kitchen, his stomach rumbling slightly. Speaking of which, he had promised Tantei-kun food last night, hadn't he? The "boy" was probably starved! Well, Kaito would just have to make him something extra amazing for breakfast. After moving the Shield into the KID hideout of course.

Kaito did plan to call his mom too. He would just do it after he made breakfast, as he wanted to have it prepared by the time Shinichi woke. Then, maybe he would set up something with Tantei-kun to surprise her. She deserved it after obviously withholding information from him. Oh, yes, that was a great idea!

He quickly ran into the living room. He then found where he had placed the Shield, swiped it up, and proceeded to patter up to his room. Careful not to wake Tantei-kun, he placed his hand on his dad's picture and fell gently into the hidden room.

The teenage magician found a reasonable place to keep the piece of art. Once he had made sure it was safe and secure, he proceeded to pad down to the kitchen.

Kaito could feel his silky white tail wagging as he turned on the stove, after grabbing a few chairs he could use to stand on. His mom surely knew what was happening, hence the warning, and he was going to make her spill it all to him. Then, he would find a way to return to being himself again. And after that, he would go back to how life was before. With the exception of Tantei-kun and the help he would surely need with his problems.

"Kuroba?" Piped the person that had just been on Kaito's mind, letting out a huge yawn.

"Good morning~~" Kaito sang joyfully as Shinichi walked over to the table and pulled out a chair.

"You're awfully exuberant, after everything you went through last night," the shrunken detective commented dryly, yawning once more. Kaito looked back to see his whole body slouching, and a grumpy expression on his face.

"Someone's not a morning person," Kaito mused, pushing a chair towards a cupboard and getting atop it.

"Mm, you have coffee?" Came Tantei-kun's reply as Kaito pulled out a few dishes and mugs, balancing them on his hands.

"Yep, I'll get you some in just a second." Kaito jumped down from the chair, the dishes leaving his hands for a mere second in mid air, then landing perfectly back on his hands. Kaito then went to set them up on the table.

"So, are we just going to spend all our time here until you figure out a way to change back on your own?" Shinichi inquired as Kaito pushed a chair over to the coffee machine.

"Yeah, for a day or two anyway. Then I think I'll go to my witch friend. You don't have to stay with me, though. You do have people who'll worry about you, don't you?"

"I already called Ran using Shinichi's voice, telling her that I'm with him-"

Kaito interrupted Shinichi by clicking his tongue. "You really shouldn't talk about yourself like you're a whole other person."

Tantei-kun stared at Kaito for a bit, then gave a huff. "I guess not, eh?"

Kaito smiled, moving away from the coffee machine. "That's a good detective~," he teased, giving a thumbs up to Shinichi, who merely rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, I called Ran using my actual voice, so I'm good there. I told her I went to visit me in the country my parents are in. My Shinichi ones, of course. I notified them of this. Then, I told the professor that I got stuck with a friend and would be stuck with them for a bit. Haibara was suspicious, but I didn't tell them where I actually was, so we have a bit before they manage to find us. Which is unlikely, but they might enlist help," Shinichi explained, grinning. "So, I'm staying here for a bit. I couldn't leave after something so curious happened, after all. It's not every day you see someone turn into an entirely different species in front of you. "

Kaito made an 'o' shape with his mouth and gave a small round of applause. "Nice planning, Tantei-kun! When did you have time to do all that, I wonder?"

Just now, and before I drifted off to sleep last night," the shrunken detective shrugged, though a look of sadness crossed his gaze for a second.

Kaito smiled gently, picking up one of the mugs and bringing it back for Shinichi, filled high with coffee. "Need any cream or sugar?"

"Just a little cream, please," Shinichi requested.

"Sure thing!" Kaito then trotted over to the fridge to get the cream. "How long do you plan to stay?"

"As long as need be." Tantei-kun held his mug tightly, giving it a soft smile, taking the delicious scent in with upturned lips.

"Got it," Kaito said. "Oh, and how do you feel about dressing up as my twin…?"

_ ~^.v.^~ _  
Chikage was quite shocked when two considerably younger Kaitos showed up on her computer screen. They looked very much the same, wearing the same ball caps, having the same hairstyle, and even very similar facial structures. The only difference was that one looked rather bored, while the other had a cool, slightly smug expression, his arms crossed over his chest.

"K-Kaito," She stuttered, raising her eyebrow a little. "Why are you… two… calling?"

"Just wanted to see how you were doing, Kaa-san~," the one with the cool, sly expression sang.

"That's all…?" Chikage replied slowly, knowing fully well that there was another reason. Her son hadn't heeded her warning, after all.

"Is it so wrong for a son to want to call his parent for no apparent reason?" The cool, sly Kaito whined.

The other one let out a sigh, dropping his face into his hand and muttering; "why in the world did I agree to this?"

She was still attempting to figure out why there were two young Kaitos. With completely opposite personalities, at that. She could only think it as some result of the magic the gemstone Kaito had targeted held. She had been expecting something completely different from what she was seeing, though, and wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"So, I want you to fully explain-" the cool, sly Kaito removed his hat, revealing a pair of lovely, pure white ears with raven black tips. He then shifted a bit, causing a blue tipped tail to pop up behind him. "This."

Chikage's body suddenly went frigid, and she glanced over to the bored Kaito, who didn't even bother to look over at his twin. This sure was… curious. It seemed the gemstone had done what she'd expected it to. Yet, something else had happened as well. Something she could only come up with one explanation for.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Kai. I'm sorry," Chikage said earnestly, though a bit coldly. She had been sworn to secrecy, and there was nothing she could do about that now. It didn't stop a twinge of guilt in her stomach, however.

"Oh, now why might that be? I've been turned into a kitsune, and my mom, who seems to know something about it, doesn't want to give me even a little information?" There was such a heavy amount of betrayal in her son's voice, it made Chikage cringe. She really hated that she couldn't tell him…

"Kai, as I said, I'm terribly sorry. One day, I swear, I'll tell you everything. There are just some things I have to do before I can." Chikage grabbed the top of her computer, preparing to close it on her darling son. "For now, I'm afraid I must go. I love you, Kai-chan, and please take good care of Shinichi. Oh, and keep that shield in a safe place and away from yourself as much as possible..."

With that, she slammed the top of her laptop closed, taking a deep breath. As much as she hated lying to her son, she knew it couldn't be helped. She was just glad that he had managed to find the one person who could help him get through this best, even if that person was in a child's body. It had been such a long time since they had seen each other.

_ ~^.v.^~ _  
Kuroba huffed, puffing out his cheeks as an annoyed child would. He crossed his arms, hopping down from his chair. "She's so difficult sometimes," he muttered as he walked out of the room.

Conan just continued to stare at the screen, quite a bit confused. "Hey, Kuroba? Did you tell your mom that I was Shinichi?"

Kuroba's footsteps sounded as he padded back at the sound of Conan's voice. He poked his head into the room. "No, but she has a tendency to know strange things. As you could probably tell from our conversation with her just now."

Conan pursed his lips, brow furrowing. Even though she did seem to know things she maybe shouldn't, it still didn't make sense. There must have been something he had done that had tipped her off. Maybe a movement he had made? He was pretty sure he had never met her before, so she must have seen him do something he had done on the news before. The question was what? He just couldn't think of anything.

Conan pushed it to the back of his mind. It wasn't really important at this moment, he guessed. He could try and figure it out later. There weren't really many clues as to how she had discovered he was Shinichi, anyway. For all he knew it could be more of this magical nonsense.

The shrunken detective hopped off the chair, padding out of the room after Kuroba. He followed him down into the living-room, where the not-child magician had turned the TV on, messing with some cards as he watched it intently.

"So, what's your plan now?" Conan inquired as soon as he was seated next to the thief.

Kuroba groaned, his ears flattening unhappily. "Well, I can only think of going to Akako. She's the witch friend I was talking about."

Conan's chest tightened a bit. Great, another dose of what should be the impossible for him. He figured he should be used to it by now, but it still shocked him that witches and kitsune could indeed exist.

"Don't worry, you don't have to come if you don't want to," Kuroba said, probably having noticed Conan's reaction to his words.

"I'll come along. As much as I don't like the idea of meeting a witch, I have to say I'm a bit curious. Plus, I want to hear for myself what her explanation is." Conan shrugged, fiddling with his thumbs as he watched the documentary Kurobas eyes were glued to.

"Alrighty, then. We'll head over to Akako's house right after the school day ends." Kuroba decided, his ears still down.

_ ~^.v.^~ _  
Kaito bit his lip, looking up at Akako's large, dark, foreboding home. He caught a raven's caw in the distance, seeming to almost tell him that he shouldn't come here. He could feel his tail puffing up, as his ears tried to go even flatter against his head. The whole place just gave him the creeps.

He looked over at Shinichi, who was standing next to him. The shrunken detective was clutching his arms across his chest, his expression dark. He seemed to be trembling a bit, though he was obviously trying to hide it.

"This place is… eerie." Shinichi stated, glancing over at Kaito.

The magician merely nodded.

With that, they started up the path, keeping close to each other. The trees bordering the path loomed over the moon, their branches reaching out. They were almost black, just as the whole area around the large mansion was. There were tinges of red here and there, some blood-red roses standing out the most. Perched in various places were unkindness of ravens, fluttering their wings and cawing at the two "boys" walking up the path.

As soon as they got to the door, it swung open. The person who had opened it was a small, hunched over old man. He smiled at them, showing strangely sharp teeth, almost like a shark's. His eyes sunk in, and the skin on his face drooped. He had thinning gray hair, and was simply all around creepy.

"Come in. Mistress Koizumi-sama is waiting," said the man, presumably her butler, in a grizzly voice.

Kaito gulped, entering alongside Shinichi.

The interior was even more creepy than the exterior. It was decorated with the skulls of various different animals, including some that looked scarily human-like. The shelves were stacked high with books, tiled things such as: "How to Curse People From Afar", to "Death Omens: What To Do When You Know The Worst Is Coming"*, to "Graves, Spirits, and the Underworld". There were also other creepy things such as paintings with eyes that seemed to follow you, colored bubbling liquids in various odd shaped flasks, and the claws of some unnamable creature.

The walls were a deep red color, extending high. The roof was black, covered with cobwebs and a few chandeliers.

He could feel Shinichi shudder against him, taking a deep breath. Kaito himself was a little more than terrified, all his hairs standing on end. He really wished his current situation hadn't called for this.

"Kuroba-kun! Welcome!" Koizumi Akako called out, suddenly coming around the corner and heading down the stairs towards them. "It's so nice of you to make… it…" She trailed off, her gaze being drawn down towards Kaito and Shinichi. "Well, isn't this an unexpected surprise."

Kaito, feeling strangely protective of Shinichi, stepped in front of the shrunken detective. He held his arm out, glaring up at the teenage witch. "Akako."

Akako cackled, holding a hand up in front of her mouth. "Oh, don't worry! I won't hurt your little friend."

Kaito didn't move. Shinichi, however, did.

"Kuroba, I can take care of myself." Shinichi came around his arm, pushing it down gently along the way. He then shoved his hands into his pockets, standing defiantly in front of Akako.

Akako gazed curiously at Shinichi. She then knelt down in front of him, raising her eyebrow a little. "Hmm…" She seemed to be musing over something. After a minute, in which both Kaito and Shinichi stood tensely, Akako stood up. "Well, I would like to know how you two met, and what happened at the heist. Please do follow me."

Akako started to clop towards the staircase, followed closely by her supposed butler. Shinichi was next to follow, taking a deep breath before he did so.

Kaito remained where he was for a few moments, chewing his lip. He really hoped this wouldn't end terribly.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

"Well, seems you two had an eventful night." Akako stated once Kuroba had finished his explanation of all that had happened. Minus of course a few of the more private details. Conan took special note of how Kuroba had left out the part regarding his mother's odd involvement in all this, as well as the fact that he had failed to divulge Conan's own secret at any point. He appreciated the effort, however the witch was like to find out fairly soon, anyway.

Conan looked around the room. It was upstairs, and surprisingly normal looking compared to the rest of the house. It consisted of a couch, a coffee table, and a few shelves filled with strange books and a few creepy decorations.

"May I take a blood sample, from both of you?" Conan jerked back to attention at the words "blood sample". "It would help me find some of the information you, and I, are looking for."

Conan gaped at Akako, processing what she had just said. Wasn't it dangerous to give blood to someone with magic? He felt like she'd have the ability to do strange things with it. Weren't there curses you could place on people using their blood in all those fictional books on witches? And since it seemed witches indeed existed, that meant that those fictional spells could as well.

"How do we know you won't do something with it?" Kuroba seemed to be on the same thought track he was.

Akako paused as if thinking over it for a moment, her eyes wandering to the ceiling. "Well, I can give you a way to monitor me with it, but I have the feeling that you still won't feel completely satisfied. So, all I can say is I hope you find the information you'll receive worth the risk."

Conan watched as Kuroba worked his jaw, pulling out a deck of cards to fiddle with. As much as he felt it was risky, the shrunken detective had to admit that he was curious. Partially as to why she wanted his blood as well. In the end, he decided that he would leave it up to Kuroba.

"Fine." Well, there was his answer. Conan closed his eyes. He really hoped they wouldn't regret this.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

It was about an hour before results came back from Akako. During this, they were served coffee and an assortment of sweets, given a stack of books they were allowed to look at, and carefully monitored by Akako's butler as they kept a close watch on Akako.

She came back, looking rather proud of herself. "Well it seems I've got some interesting results." Handing two vials of blood back to Kuroba and Conan himself, the witch took a seat across from them.

"Well, tell us what you got," Kuroba demanded, stuffing his blood-vial in his pocket.

"I'll start with you, then, Kuroba-kun." Akako shifted in her seat. "You were a kitsune all along, as I was expecting. The gemstone merely revealed your true form."

Kuroba stared in shock, his eyes wide. "What?"

Akako chuckled, a satisfied smirk on her face. "As I said, you've always been a kitsune. You do have a bit of human blood in you, so I'd say either your father or mother was a hanyo, while the other was pure-bred kitsune."

Kuroba's jaw fell open.

"Now for you, shrunken teenager," Akako said, revealing that she had indeed figured out Conan's "little" secret. He had to briefly wonder what else she had to tell him. As far as he was aware, he didn't have any magical connections. "You're a wizard."

Conan felt like he had just been punched in the gut. That was the last thing he had been expecting to hear.

 _ **A/N: Misty-chan again! Thanks for reading, and review? ^^**_


	4. Unfamiliar familiars

**A/N: Its Misty-chan once more! :) I wrote this chapter as well. Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows last time! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying it so far! :D**

 **As always, a HUGE thanks to LadyS for helping me write this chapter! *hearts***

 **Well, hope you all enjoy!**

 **A/N 2: Shadow here welcoming you all once again to another lovely chapter of Moonlight Reflections. In this chapter we explore the concept of "familiars" something that my co-writer introduced me to, and I agreed would make a wonderful addition to this tale. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.**

 **As always remember to support the official works :)**

_ ~^.v.^~ _

Kaito glanced over at Shinichi, who was once again in a state of shock. He himself had been surprised at first, but it was kind of just all rolling over him now. After all that had happened, he had kind of been expecting some absurd explanation for why he was a kitsune. At this moment, he was more worried about Shinichi. It had to be incredibly hard to believe that there was no such thing as magic your whole life, then, in the matter of two days, not only discover magic does indeed exist, but also find out you're actually a wizard.

Shinichi was starting to almost look sick. Maybe he should have held off going to Akako's a little longer. Though, he really hadn't expected this to happen. Kaito sighed inwardly, feeling a bit guilty, even though he knew that none of this was completely his fault. It had just kind of happened. With Tantei-kun just happening to show up at the heist where he was apparently destined to turn into a kitsune. Luck really hadn't been on his side that night.

Akako, Kaito noticed, had a rather satisfied grin on her face. She was obviously enjoying this, that cruel woman.

He scooted a bit closer to Shinichi, bending down to try and catch his gaze. "Hey, Shinichi, look at me."

The shrunken detective blinked, turning his gaze towards Kaito's. They stared at each other for a moment, before Kaito spoke again.

"This doesn't change anything, got it? It's just new information." He kept his voice steady. Hopefully he could bring Shinichi back to Earth and help him process all this. It was a lot to take in, and if there was any way he could help Shinichi through this, Kaito would do it.

"Kuroba, I know. I'm fine." Alright, obviously that hadn't been what Shinichi had wanted to hear. So much for Kaito's sentimental thoughts. Maybe it would be best to just give him some space for a bit and let him process. He seemed to work a bit better off comforting himself than letting others comfort him.

Kaito shifted back to where he had been sitting before on the couch.

"Now that you've had a little bit to process what I just said, I must say there's more. I can't tell at this moment what type of magic you have, shrunken teenager." Akako became serious again, crossing one leg over the other as she leaned back with a stony expression. "But there are some other things I'd like to discuss, a few of them mere theories."

Kaito raised a brow. It was actually a bit strange to hear Akako talking as if she were a scientist. Well, she was doing an experiment of kinds, he guessed. Though, that only made it seem a bit weird that magic seemed to work like science in quite a few ways. Then again, real magic was a mystery to Kaito. He hadn't had enough experiences with it to understand it, even just a little bit.

On that note, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. He knew that Shinichi wasn't going to handle any more big, life-shaking revelations at this moment. As much as Kaito didn't understand magic, Shinichi understood it even less. He had, after all, never encountered it before now.

"The first thing is directed towards this shrunken teenager," Akako told them, breaking Kaito from his thoughts. Her eyes were narrowed, and she seemed to be giving Shinichi a thorough examination.

Kaito cringed. He couldn't say he hadn't expected that, but he had really been hoping that it wouldn't take that direction. He looked over to Shinichi, whom was looking even more sick than he had been before. He was biting his lip, and it looked as if he were doing it hard enough that it might actually be bleeding.

"This is more of a question than a revelation, really," Akako started. "You have a spell on you blocking your powers. I don't know what the circumstances are but your powers are already weakening the spell holding them captive. It's best to get the spell removed by another magic user as soon as possible, because otherwise it will burst and your powers will go completely out of control. So, I would like to ask if you want me to do that for you."

Shinichi sucked in a breath, releasing his lip. He seemed to think over it for a moment, before turning to Kaito, looking incredibly unsure.

Kaito thought on it himself. It was certainly risky business to let Akako remove a spell from you. Yet, they'd already taken some risks with her. And he wasn't seeing much of a reason for her to lie about this.

He nodded to Shinichi, confirming what he thought on the matter. Shinichi returned his gaze to Akako, hesitating before giving his reply.

"Fine. I'll accept your offer."

"Wise choice," Akako responded. "We'll do that after I tell you the rest of what I have for you to know."

Kaito prepared himself. He had an odd feeling that this one would apply to him as well. Probably because of the way she was gazing at him as if he were a newly discovered species. Which, he kind of was.

"Due to some similarities in your blood, as well as your appearances, I've decided that you two-" Akako took a dramatic pause there, the amused grin coming back onto her face. "Are connected. In fact, I'd say that, Kuroba, you're this shrunken teenager's familiar."

Kaito… actually wasn't exactly sure how to take that. It seemed like it should be incredibly important and life rattling, that he and Shinichi would have such a deep connection as master and familiar, but somehow it really didn't seem like anything had changed at all. He and Shinichi were still two people just getting to know each other, albeit through a very odd situation.

Shinichi, on the other hand, looked a bit confused.

Akako sighed. "I'm guessing you haven't heard much about familiars. Honestly, how can a magic user be so uneducated?" She griped, giving Shinichi a very disappointed look. "A familiar is a creature that serves a person who wields magic. It helps them with magic spells and such. They usually have a rather deep connection.

"Here, I'll give you an example." She then snapped her fingers. Almost instantly there was a loud, annoyed chattering sound, and a small, red-eyed blackbird came fluttering into the room, landing on Akako's shoulder.

Kaito watched as Shinichi stared at it, appearing a bit perplexed. "A… blackbird?"

"Not just any blackbird, shrunken teenager. This is a shapeshifting demon. Go on, show them what you can do," she said proudly, nudging the bird with a single, red fingernail. The bird shifted, working it's legs. Another second later, there was no longer a blackbird on Akako's shoulder. Instead, there was a coal black lizard with a long tail, eyes still terrifyingly red.

Shinichi blanched. The lizard merely fixed its gaze on him, glaring through its narrowed beady eyes. It then stuck out its tongue at him, turning and scampering down Akako's shoulder afterwards. Suddenly, there was the sound of beating wings, and a large black eagle swooped out from behind her.

Kaito watched it flap away, tipping his head a bit. He had to admit, he completely thought that was cool. He was a kitsune, right? Maybe he could figure out how to do some awesome shape shifting routine like that.

Akako blew a kiss to her familiar as it left, then turned her attention back towards Shinichi. "You got that?"

The shrunken detective gave a tiny nod, still staring wide-eyed at Akako's shoulder, where the demon had been perched a mere minute ago.

"Good."

Kaito wondered just how much more Shinichi could take. He really hoped the shrunken detective wouldn't pass out again. That would turn this already bad situation even worse than it already was. They had already accepted help from a witch of whom Kaito didn't trust in the least. There was surely going to be some sort of payment. And he knew he was most likely going to be the one asked to make the payment. Of course he wouldn't, if he could help it.

"Now, this means a few things," Akako said, her gaze flickering between Kaito and Shinichi. "But, I want payment for the information I've given you so far before I give you any more."

Ah, there it was. Just as Kaito had been expecting. Now, what the payment was going to be, he wasn't sure. She could ask for quite a few things. Most of them having to do with making Kaito her slave. Did they really want to continue any farther?

"Kuroba-kun." Akako's scarlet gaze landed directly on him. Kaito couldn't help the chill that crawled up his spine. This wasn't going to end well.

"I want you to kiss me. Affectionately."

Kaito blanched. Akako really wanted him to kiss her, in this body? Was she crazy? Well, yeah, she was quite a bit insane, but still! She was pretty much asking for a child to kiss her! Kaito quickly fixed his poker face after those thoughts raced through his head. He wasn't going to let Akako think that bugged him in any way.

"Don't worry." Her gaze flickered briefly to Shinichi, who had done a double take, and was now just looking plain shocked. "I have my dignity. I won't make Kuroba-kun kiss a teenager in the body he's in right now."

She snapped her fingers, and once more, her familiar fluttered into the room. It landed next to her, looking quite huffy. It let out an annoyed whistling noise, shifting its legs.

Suddenly, they were both perfectly silent, staring intently at each other. Kaito shifted uncomfortably, watching as the Akako and the eagle's expressions changed. It was like they were conversing, but Kaito couldn't be sure they were.

In the end, the eagle made a sound that resembled a sigh, and shrugged. It then lifted its wings lazily, closing its scarlet eyes slowly. In a flash of bright red light, Akako had the body of a young girl.

Kaito stared blankly at her, tilting his head a bit. Well, that had been a bit unexpected. Also he had to kiss Akako now, huh? Oh dear Kamisama…

"So, you ready to kiss me Kuroba-kun? Remember, affectionately." Akako hopped off the couch onto two spindly legs, her outfit much too big on her tiny body. Thank goodness it managed to stay on her.

She walked towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Come now, don't be shy. It's only a kiss, right?"

Kaito could feel the vile rise in the back of his throat. Akako's lips were now inches from his, and could he really do this? He glanced back at Shinichi, who was staring at them with eyes the size of saucers. Kaito mouthed "help" to him, hoping Shinichi would have some sort of plan. The shrunken detective gave him an unsure shrug, pursing his lips. Kaito rolled his eyes at him. He couldn't be any less helpful.

"Kuroba-kun, look at me~," Akako insisted, putting a single hand onto the his cheek and directing his head towards her. "That's better."

Kaito gulped, sweat-dropping. His poker face fell as she frowned at him, pulling his face so close their lips were practically touching. "Make the first move, come on," she whispered so softly that he could barely hear her, even with how close they were.

Well, there was no getting out of this one, huh? It was now or never.

Kaito pulled his head back a little, then dove his head down, his lips making contact with Akako's. There were multiple thoughts going through his head as her hand moved to the back of his head, fingers burrowing into his hair as she held his head close.

Her lips were soft, yet hungry. He knew she wanted him to kiss her passionately, and wouldn't give them the information they needed unless he did. So, he did it as best he could, just keeping in mind that this kiss meant nothing. He didn't have any feelings for this woman, and this was only payment. Yet, it didn't change the fact that it was just so… _weird_.

It felt like forever before she finally released his head. They both took quite a few deep breaths as soon as they were apart from each other. Kaito fell back onto the couch, right next to Shinichi. He could feel Shinichi's hand fall onto his shoulder, though didn't really register it. Oh damn, he'd really just kissed Akako. It was like one of his worst nightmares come to life.

"That was perfect, Kuroba-kun! And just how I had imagined it," Akako said as soon as she had caught her breath, suddenly back in her teenage form. Kaito sent a glare over to her, loathing how pleased she looked. He was never going to kiss her again.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

Conan was more than overwhelmed at this point. Also, was it weird that Akako and Kaito kissing had been the most shocking part of their whole visit here? Him being a wizard coming in a close second. He wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to hear any more.

"Alright, let's discuss what you two being wizard and familiar means, shall we?"

Conan thought for a second on just letting Kaito listen to this part and spacing out during it, but decided against it. Despite how he was unsure if he could take any more, he did need to find out what all of what they had just learned meant.

"First of all, I'd say you two have a stronger connection than most, meaning that if you learn to use your powers together, supporting each other, you could do some amazing things," Akako explained. "Just like how I turned into a child relying on the power of Draven, here." She motioned to the eagle still perched on the armrest next to her. It seemed to have dozed off, eyes closed as it breathed steadily.

"This also means that you have an unspoken and unwritten agreement with each other. All magic users and familiars have it. This agreement is that you shall always be there for the other, to support the other when he or she needs it. You will stick by each other's side until one of you, or both of you, are dead. And I've heard that some with incredibly deep connections find out how to stick with each other after death. Of course, there are familiars and wizards that break this agreement. But, their magic often ends up punishing them in some way afterwards.

Akako paused before continuing."Then there's Shinichi's magic type. I can't be exactly sure, but he has some very old bloodlines in him. In fact, he could be my cousin, if we share the same ancient bloodlines. However, it's extremely hard to tell from just a single blood sample," Akako informed them, yawning a bit as if she found this whole thing boring. Conan, on the other hand, was now wishing he hadn't chosen to listen. He wasn't only a wizard, he was a wizard from an ancient bloodline? What the hell?

"Any theories on why I turned into a mirrored version of Conan when he touched me at the heist?" Kaito piped up, sounding slightly hopeful.

"Yes, in fact, I do. And, I was just about to get to that, mind you," Akako sent him a glare, then returned back to her serious expression, stroking her familiar's feathers gently. "I'm guessing it has something to do with the leaking of Shinichi's magic, and that it was partially induced by the shield. I'm guessing that since Kuroba-kun's magic was fully released, it resonated with your leaking magic. After a while, the two magic types fully resonated, and Kuroba-kun was turned into a child, just as his wizard master had been.

"Solving this is going to be a little more tricky. I'd say that it's going to take the shrunken teenager releasing and strengthening his magic to help Kuroba-kun turn back. That, or he's going to have to turn back into a teenager himself before Kuroba-kun can. Getting him back into the body of a teenager is going to be a little more tricky, as even I have no idea what type of curse your under, much less who cast it."

Conan raised a brow. He honestly didn't have any idea as to why Akako thought his shrinking was caused by a curse. Then again, it was kind of a curse. Of science. He wondered briefly how Haibara would react to all this.

"Now I'll explain this magic block of your's. At least my theories on it, anyway." Conan perked a bit. He was indeed very curious on this matter, and he did want to know why he had had his magic hidden from him this whole time. Not that Akako could really explain that to him… but maybe what she had to say would give him some theories of his own.

"It's a fairly powerful block, and an old one that you've likely had most of, if not your whole life. I'd think that your parents went to a fairly powerful magic user to get it put on you. I really don't know the exact reason, but I'm guessing it was because they wanted you to live a life as a mundane human being instead of living under the guise of a normal human being and having to control his powers. That's just my guess, anyway."

Conan furrowed his brow, thinking. What she had said made sense. At this point he really couldn't come up with much of a theory. And boy did he have some talking to do when he got ahold of his parents again. They were going to explain this to him, no matter what he had to do to get them to talk.

Akako suddenly got up, her eagle-demon-thing jerking awake and flapping. It then transformed into a small bird, resembling a pitch black robin, and fluttered up to perch on Akako's shoulder. "Since that's all done and over with, shrunken teenager, why don't we get that block removed?"

Conan bit his lip. This was the part he was least excited for.

He got up off the couch, ignoring the look Kaito was giving him. The shrunken magician obviously wanted him to turn back. He wasn't going to, however. He'd committed to this, and he'd prefer to be closer to helping Kaito get his teenage form back rather than further.

"Oh, and Kuroba-kun, I expect payment for this bit as well," Akako called back as they walked out of the room.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

Akako lead Conan to one of the many rooms where she did spell work. It was one of the more comfortable ones with a bed. She found it easier to work on people when they were comfortable. Also this room had the ingredients for a potion she could use to sedate the shrunken teenager if need be.

She did find this boy interesting, for a few very obvious reasons. One of those reasons being just how well he seemed to get along with Kuroba, even though according to Kuroba they had supposedly just met. The little bit of magic that had leaked through the shrunken teenager's seal was already resonating at a high level with Kuroba's newly released magic.

Usually familiars and magic users only resonated on low levels until they had been together for at least a year, growing to know and have a deeper connection with each other. Yet these two were already connected on such a deep level, and Akako had to wonder why.

Then there was the magic block. Which had obviously been on Kuroba as well, but for some reason only Kuroba's had broken upon contact with the shield. She was guessing it had to do with the shrunken teenager's magic type. Yet, not knowing what his magic type was, it was all a mystery to her.

"Lay on the bed over at the end of the room while I prepare what I need for the procedure," Akako told the shrunken teenager, pointing to the bed that was against the wall. He gave her a wary look before going and sitting on it, watching carefully as she went over to her potion ingredient shelf.

Akako studied her ingredients for a second. She might as well go ahead and sedate him, as it wouldn't do him any harm and this procedure carried in levels of painfulness. It would also keep his magic at bay once it was released, keeping it from going out of control until the potion wore off.

She then got to work making the preparations, ignoring how the shrunken teenager was keeping a careful eye on her every step she made.

"Alright, drink this, and then we can get started." Akako handed the shrunken detective a vial containing the sedation potion. He gazed at it suspiciously, eyes narrowing. "It's not poison, so just drink it already, will you?"

Still looking quite doubtful, he carefully took a sip of it, swallowing it slowly. He stared at it another moment before throwing the whole thing back, seeming to decide that it wasn't dangerous.

In another moment, the sedation took effect, and the shrunken teenager swayed a little. Akako walked away before he fell to the bed, sleeping, going to prepare another potion she'd need to make it easier to remove the magic.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

Kaito jiggled his leg, waiting impatiently. He was starting to regret that they had agreed to this. Akako better not doing anything more than remove the spell from Shinichi, or she was good as dead. They were getting out of here as soon as this was over. Then he would take Shinichi home and let him rest after another life shaking experience for him. Kaito himself needed to rest a bit as well.

It was a little over an hour before Akako came back, looking pleased. "The procedure was a success. Your master's block has been removed, though he probably won't be completely… himself for a bit."

She gave a little wave, and her familiar, Draven, walked into the room. He was in the form of a large wolf, Shinichi draped over his back. The shrunken detective looked to be out cold, his eyes closed and his chest rising and falling peacefully.

"We had to sedate him so he wouldn't feel any pain," Akako explained when she noticed the glare Kaito was shooting at her. She sighed when Kaito kept glaring daggers at her, crossing his arms angrily over his chest. "He'll wake up in thirty minutes, don't worry. I didn't give him anything really strong."

"And how do you expect me to carry him all the way home?" Kaito questioned, getting up off the couch and removing Shinichi from Draven's back.

"I didn't. I thought you two would want to stay here for a little, as the shrunken teenager's going to need some training to handle his magic and-"

Kaito cut her off, shifting Shinichi so the shrunken detective was on his back. "We aren't staying here, thank you," he told her icilly. "You've done quite enough. I'll take my chances carrying Shinichi home."

Akako huffed, and appeared to be about to say something more, but was interrupted this time by her familiar. The black wolf gave a small whine, gazing up at her. Again, it seemed as if they were communicating. Finally, Akako spoke aloud to her familiar, seeming fed up. "Fine! You're much too nice, I'm telling you. Now get out of my sight."

The familiar made a snorting sound, then walked up to Kaito, nudging him with his nose. Kaito looked down confusedly, furrowing his brow at the shapeshifting demon. Draven rolled his eyes at him, at least that was what it looked like, then indicated with his head towards Shinichi. He then motioned towards his back.

Kaito made an 'o' with his mouth, blinking at the demon. He had half a heart to feel distrustful, then shook it away. From what Akako had said at the end, it didn't seem like the demon had any ill intentions.

He placed Shinichi carefully back on the deep black wolf's back. The wolf shifted under the shrunken detective's weight, making sure that he was in a position that he wouldn't easily fall. Draven then waited, gazing at Kaito.

With one last glance at Akako, who refused to even take a glance at any of them, Kaito turned to leave. He walked ahead, leading the way. Fortunately he knew some back alleys that they could take to get to his house.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

Conan blinked groggily. His head hurt like hell, and everything just looked fuzzy. He studied the room he was in as his vision slowly cleared, rubbing his aching head. It was Kaito's room, for sure. There was even that giant picture of a magician hanging on the wall.

The shrunken detective got up off the bed, swaying as he regretted getting up so quickly. He swore under his breath.

He walked over to the picture, studying it as he ignored the pencil that was floating lazily next to him, trembling every now and then. He thought he recognized this person. Maybe he had seen him in the newspapers somewhere… Oh, yes! Kuroba Toichi, the magician that had died in that fire all those years ago, due to an accident with his magic trick. Conan remembered reading it in the newspaper when he was around ten, as he'd always been trying to find cases in the newspaper, even as a young child.

Now that he thought about it… Kaito and the magician shared the same surname. Could that mean… Suddenly it all connected in Conan's mind and his eyes widened. So this was Kaito's father. This must be the original Kid. Conan clenched his fist a little, putting his hand on the picture, feeling an overwhelming bundle of emotions.

Suddenly, there was a cranking sound, and Conan felt the picture shift. He tried to move out of the way of whatever was happening, but he was too late. The picture quickly flipped around, pushing Conan into who-knows-where. Suddenly, he was falling into a black hole, or something like that.

The next thing he knew was he had landed in what looked to be some sort of… garage. There was a single car, despite all the space it had. The only thing that made him think it might not be a garage was that there weren't doors of any kind. There was a small radio next to him, which when he pressed the play button, only made a static sound.

Conan gazed around curiously, taking in every detail, from the cupboards to the mess in the far corner. It was definitely an interesting place, and, on that note, how the heck did he get out of here?

He walked over to the cabinet, opening it. Inside was a Kaitou Kid suit, hung neatly on hangers, with the hat being placed on a hat stand. There was only one place he could be.

"So this is Kid's lair…" he mused to himself, giving a low whistle. He had found the place that none ever had, and many hoped to discover.

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you found this place." Conan whipped around as Kaito's voice sounded behind him, the pencil, which seemed to have followed him into the lair, shooting towards the magician, who dodged it. "Whoa, there Tantei-kun, careful with those newfound powers of yours."

Conan glowered. "It's your fault for startling me, Kaito."

"Well, at least you aren't freaking out about having magic," the magician commented, walking up to stand beside him.

"Yeah…" Conan glanced over to the pencil now stuck in the wall. Well, he had magic now. Uncontrollable magic at that. Somehow, he just couldn't find it in him to be all that shocked. He'd experienced so much magic and such in the past two days that he was kind of over the shock stage.

"So, do you like it? It's nice, right?" Pride tinted Kaito's voice as he gazed around the room, hands in pockets. His tail was wagging a bit, though there was something a bit forlorn in his eyes.

Conan smiled, giving a hum of agreement. "Though, I am wondering, just how do we get out of here?"

"There's a trapdoor in the far corner. It leads to the outside," Kaito informed, gaze abruptly growing distant. Conan furrowed his brow, noticing how the shrunken magician was staring at the wall, eyes a little pained. He tipped his head to the side, wondering what he was thinking about. He then shrugged. It probably wasn't something he needed to know at this moment, anyway. Kaito would probably tell him in time, when he was ready.

_ ~^.v.^~ _

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, and this author (like most others) loves reviews of any kind! :3**


	5. Past and Present

_**~Authors note: Hello Everybody! It's LadyShadow here bringing you the newest chapter of Moonlight Reflections. Thank you all for your patience while Misty and I dealt with some real life stuff. We're going to try and keep these chapters coming, but it's difficult with me working full time and Mist busy with schooling. Nonetheless I hope you all enjoy what we've got for you this time around!**_

 _ **This chapter was mostly written by myself with Mist co-writing and betaing as necessary. Before we continue I'd like to point out that this chapter heavily features Kaito/Aoko centric relationship. (Though this will probably be the last were seeing of Aoko for a while) However I would like to remind everyone that this is a "genfic". Romance is not the focus of this fic though you will see hints of both canon pairings and eventual KaiShin (though again not the focus) I apologize if that is all you came here for, but I truly hope you enjoy this fic regardless.**_

 _ **As usual disclaimer: we own nothing but our imaginations.**_

 _ **A big thank you to all the people who have reviewed/followed/favorited this story over its development. For all you ghost readers out there: Hello! thanks for taking the time to check out our story!**_

 _ **With all that said: Enjoy!~**_

Kaito stared at the wall, doing his best to keep his poker face straight. He could tell he was failing a bit at it though, as he felt the pain that accompanied the myriad of emotions he was facing at this moment. He had just had to face one of the hardest challenges of his life.

The guilt was weighing on him as he remembered the expressions of his childhood best friend as she read the lie of a note he had composed for her… True, it was filled to the brim with half truths and broken, weak reassurances, but that didn't make it any less painful. The only thought that gave him strength was the fact that she was **safe,** and no longer had cause to worry for him.

Kaito gripped his hands in fists. This whole situation was the worst. Ever since his father's death, Kaito had mostly kept people at an arm's length away from him. Aoko had been the only one in his life whom he hadn't been able to get rid of. She had given him his distance at first, but after a while, she had stubbornly refused to let him wallow away forever. She brought back a bit of normalcy to his life.

Even now, she was the most mundane thing in his life. The shock of the past few days was really only now starting to hit Kaito, as he realized there wasn't going to be any easy fix for this "problem" of his. For now this was all he could do, and it really hurt. Though, he was probably just overthinking things. Aoko would be fine, he had made sure of that. She had no reason to worry about him...

~^.v.^~

Aoko wasn't entirely worried when neither her father, nor Kaito, came home for dinner last night. She was pretty used to her father's late night sessions at this point, and Kaito had been rather distant lately, often going off at random times to places unknown. They rarely ever actually got together anymore, which left her to fend for herself.

Not that she minded all that much, she reminded herself. What business was it of her's to care about that stupid perverted magician and his life? Why should she mind if he decided to go out and do stuff without her? It's not as if she wanted to spend time with him…

Still, she couldn't help the anxiety that flooded the back of her mind over him. Especially after her father had come home late that night, looking altogether exhausted, muttering something under his breath about crazy lunatics, and shots being fired near the site of the heist.

Her heart skipped a beat as she thought about Kaito, and whether he was okay. From the lack of lights next door, it would seem her friend had never returned home. It was possible he had just done so discreetly, and gone directly to bed afterwards, but honestly her mind couldn't help but fear the worst in a scenario like this.

She had quickly chided herself on such thoughts, and decided just to let the matter rest. She would see Kaito in school the next day, anyway. No doubt with plenty of comments about his blessed "KID-sama" getting away yet again by the sounds of it. Ugh, why was she worried about that idiot again?

However, the next day she was surprised when she walked into the classroom only to find Kaito's seat empty. At first, she dismissed it as him just being a little bit late, he was known to goof off before class begins after all. Still, after the first bell rang and the rest of the student's took their seats, there was still no sign of him.

Normally Hakuba would be the first to take notice of such an absence, coming in with some ridiculous claim like "Kaito is gone the day after a heist... that must mean he's KID!" But Hakuba himself had been absent for some time now. Though, he was scheduled to return sometime soon.

As she glanced backwards she took note that Akako seemed to staring at his seat an unreadable expression almost akin to worry on her face. When Akako's eyes fell on her though, Aoko quickly turned away with a blush. She felt a shiver run over her, as she felt Akako's gaze linger on her momentarily before the teacher called out attendance.

Aoko took note that the teacher skipped over Kaito's name, which was peculiar. Could it be that he called in sick today? She decided she would investigate it later. If he wasn't really sick, then she would be sure to give him a real earful later on for staying out so late last night.

Just before lunch, she stopped by the teacher's desk and asked about Kaito. "Umm, excuse me sensei, but do you happen to know why Kaito is absent today?" She gazed down sheepishly at the ground, even as she asked the question.

Her teacher looked at her a bit confused. "Hmm? Kuroba? Well, it say's on the attendance sheet he's been granted an extended leave of absence by a family member. I couldn't tell you the details, really. Don't tell me this is some sort of ridiculous prank or something!" Her teacher gave her a bit of a skeptical look. They both knew all too well what a practical joker Kaito was. There weren't many who didn't know the terror of Ekoda-high.

Aoko quickly shook her head. "Uh, no, nothing like that…" Aoko's voice dropped into a barely audible whisper, "at least, I hope not…" Her teacher gave her another skeptical look, and Aoko quickly cleared her throat. "I mean, honestly, he's a real trickster, but I don't think even he would try and pull something like that off. At least not without good reason."

Her teacher continued to raise her eyebrow, before slowly letting out an exasperated sigh. "Look, as long as he keeps up his studies while he's away, I'm sure he will be fine. He should return before exams, but even if he doesn't he can always do the make up work over the summer, though there are online options as well…"

Aoko paused, taking in this new information. " Sensei...How long did it say he was supposed to be absent for?" Aoko bit her lip a bit worriedly. This was starting to sound more serious than she had first imagined.

Her teacher sighed and shrugged. "Honestly, as I said. I don't even know that. I'm not the one who takes care of such things, I just follow what I'm told. Will that be all, Nakamori?"

Aoko nodded her head and bowed. " you." With that, she turned to go eat lunch. She thought briefly of going to Kaito's house to check and see if he was actually gone or not, but she quickly threw that idea away, not wanting to break any rules herself.

She was left blissfully unaware of the presence listening in on her conversation from just outside the door. Said presence grinned evilly, and somewhat knowingly, to themselves as they disappeared down the hallway without so much as a word.

~^.v.^~

Later that day as the last bell rang, Aoko took a brief note of how Akako swiftly exited the room. She had been acting rather strange all day, though she had seemingly relaxed somewhat after lunch for some reason. Aoko shrugged it off as no big deal, deciding to focus on the task at hand. That task being going over to Kaito's to check to see if all this truly was a prank or not.

At this point, she wasn't really sure what to think. The question had been on her mind all day: what would cause Kaito to disappear so suddenly? For some reason, her mind kept coming back to the heist last night and there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that somehow the two things were connected. She shook her head, fighting off such ridiculous notions. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

With a renewed determination, Aoko walked home, her only thought being to confront the source of the matter. Her phone had recently been sent to the repair shop after a river related "incident" had left it unusable. So unfortunately, she had no way of contacting the idiot off-hand. Still, she could have sworn she **had** seen lights on this morning when she woke up. That meant he was probably still around, right?

Before she knew it, she was standing on his doorstep, her hands clenched in fists. Quickly, she pounded on the door, still being polite enough not to enter without an invitation. "Bakaito, I know you're in there! Come out and explain yourself!" She glared at the door as she stood there, waiting for an answer. She was met with silence, however.

Once again, she pounded on the door, her frustration and anxiety growing despite the feeling in the back of her mind that maybe she was indeed mistaken, and he was not here. "BAKAITO! YOU GET OUT HERE RIGHT NOW!" she yelled. Luckily, it seemed none of the neighbors seemed to take note of her, despite the scene she was making, because they were pretty used to the Nakamori's yelling at this point.

Aoko huffed, her cheeks red as she tried to calm her nerves. Eventually, she decided to try the doorknob. Surprisingly, or perhaps in a way unsurprisingly, she found it was indeed locked. Sighing, she searched for the spare key, but found it was missing from where she had left it. Puffing her cheeks up, she kicked at the doormat and turned to leave.

She quickly turned around, however, deciding to check the nearby window for any sign of movement. She stopped in front of it, putting her face as close to the glass as possible without smudging it with her hands. Peering through the closed shades, she honestly couldn't see anything.

Sighing to herself, she eventually backed away and went home to her house next door. Her own home was rather silent yet again, as her father had mentioned he had yet another meeting for work having to do with last night's incidents. Without her cell phone, or anyone around to keep her company, she was left to silence.

She turned on the tv briefly, only to see a slight recap of the previous night's events, with a blurry clip of the thief escaping into the night on his glider, shield apparently in hand. The image was really hard to make out, especially due to the glare that was probably caused from the reflectivity of the shield, but there was little doubt of the outcome.

According to her father, the shield had yet to be returned, not that she really cared all that much. The stupid thief was well known for messing around with the police. Sometimes he returned the things right away, other times he kept them for an indeterminate amount of time, though rarely over a month. The aggravating truth was that he **always** returned what he stole.

Shaking her head, Aoko pressed the "off" button on the remote. She was tired of all this nonsense. Slowly, she found herself nodding off, suffering from her lack of sleep. She tried to fight it, but the couch was so inviting, and her body was so worn out that eventually she just sunk in. She lay sprawled out limp on the couch in an awkward, yet carefree position. There, she lay for the next few hours, still unaware of the magic that was happening some miles away from her house.

~^.v.^~

Aoko awoke to the sound of ringing in her ears. Blinking groggily, she reached over and attempted to silence her alarm, only to fall off the couch flat on her face. Now, more awake, she continued to blink, registering that she was in the living room, not her bedroom. The ringing continued, and she quickly reached down to silence her phone, only to remember that it was still in the shop.

Finally, it registered in her mind that it was the doorbell, as she heard what sounded like a loud knock on the front door. "COMING!" Called Aoko as she nearly tripped over her feet in her haste to get to the door. Her hair was even messier than usual and she moved to push it out of her face, as she quickly slipped on her shoes at the front door, opening it casually only to find… nothing.

Aoko gazed around, her eyes still adjusting to the low light. Just how long had she been out that it was already dark outside? She must have really passed out...not unlike that time on the train where she had just felt so sleepy all of a sudden. Not surprising, given how little sleep she had gotten last night.

Aoko shook her head, trying to focus. It was then that she noticed a small white envelope on her porch step being carried by a black crow. "Hmm what's this?" She leaned down towards the crow, who let out a small shriek, ruffling its feathers, before dropping the note, and flying away. Aoko shivered briefly, unsure of what just happened, but she quickly shrugged it off carefully picking up the envelope.

As the daughter of a policeman and best friend of a well known prankster, she knew well not to trust first appearances when it came to strange letters. Still...her curiosity ended up getting the better of her as she carefully peeked into it, careful to try and disarm any "traps" that may come attached to it.

After determining that the envelope was safe, she carefully opened it and withdrew the piece of folded paper inside. She immediately recognized the messy scrawl of her best friend's handwriting. Glancing around casually, she found that there was no one around at the moment. So, he had sent this note to her via crow messenger? Why not deliver it in person, or on one of his famous doves?

She lowered her eyebrows, now even more suspicious that Kaito might be messing with her. Still…he had obviously set the letter up this way for a reason. Maybe if she played along, she'd get the answers she was looking for. Sighing, she shook her head and focused on the note.

" _Dear Aoko,"_ Aoko paused as she read the casual way Kaito addressed her. It was actually quite odd reading a letter from him, as opposed to a text or something. Of course, he of all people knew why she couldn't text right now.

" _I'm sorry that I have to disappear so suddenly like this. Bet you worried about me, eh?~ Aww, Aoko that's really sweet, for a tomboyish girl like you ;)"_ Aoko groaned a bit at this. She was reminded here why she never worried too much about Kaito. The idiot certainly knew how to put his foot in his mouth, even in written form!

" _I promise I'll text you when I can. You get your phone back from the repair shop tomorrow, right? Err...uh, you're not still mad at me about that right? You know I'm sorry I made you drop it. It was an accident, I swear!"_ Aoko snorted a bit at this.

She knew it was partially her own clumsy fault it dropped in the river. Kaito, for his part in it had only been trying to show off a new trick. For once, it had gone truly awry surprising both of them, and causing her to fall backwards. Kaito had attempted to catch her before she fell, but her phone had slipped from her hands, falling into the river in the process.

She had already forgiven Kaito for his role. "Accident" was the right word, and though she had been a bit miffed at first about it, she had never held any grudge against Kaito for it. Though honestly, he didn't really need to know that… Smiling knowingly to herself at her own form of revenge for all his other tricks, she went back to reading his note.

" _So, I guess you're wondering where I'm disappearing to huh?"_ Again Aoko snorted lightly. Seriously?

" _While I wish I knew...I actually have no idea. You see, mom decided to spring a rather interesting surprise on me last night. I guess happy early 18th birthday to me?"_ Aoko paused at this, remembering that Kaito's 18th birthday was a little less than a week away. That...made an odd sort of sense actually. Chikage was rather well known for her spontaneity. It was probably some sort of weird gift for him. Most likely having to do with magic.

" _I'm going to be spending some quality time away from home by the sound of it. I can't really go into much detail at the moment, but yeah, I'm not going to be around for a while. Not sure how long… I'll try and be back before finals, but for now, I've got a bit of traveling to do. Going to do a bit of reconnecting with my dad's past. I'm sure you understand."_ Aoko's heart lodged itself in her throat as she read this last bit.

So Kaito's mother had kidnapped him to go globetrotting with her? That would explain the sudden disappearance, and subsequent school note about an extended leave of absence. Why she hadn't done so on Kaito's actual birthday…well, it was probably as Kaito stated; a surprise.

Aoko sighed to herself as she calmed her racing pulse. Finally, she began reading the last bit of the note, a small blush forming as she did so. _"Again, don't worry too much about me while I'm gone, okay? I promise to write to you as often as I can and call you every once in awhile, though don't call me unless it's an emergency. Never know where I'll be, or what I'll be doing. Just trust me on this, okay?"_ Aoko shook her head. BaKaito. Just what did he mean by all that? She wasn't...that...worried about him. She blushed once more and read the last bit of script.

" _Well, guess it's time to go. Ja ne, Aoko._

 _P.S. Oh and by the way, make sure to take care of my doves while I'm gone. I'm sure you will get along just fine.~ Also please stay away from Akako. Don't let her harass you behind my back, and don't believe a word that evil witch says. Bye-bye now!~"_

Aoko wasn't sure how to react to that last part. She had heard Kaito call Akako a witch under his breath before, but to say something like that...she had to wonder what brought that on.

Shrugging it off, she scanned the note once more, her face showing a mixture of emotions. Just as she was reading the last bit over again, yawning to herself, and whispering under her breath "Bakaito."

She turned to go back inside. Had she been looking she would have noticed a streak of furry white disappearing around the corner from her and into the house next door.

~^.v.^~

After delivering the note, Kaito had made his way back inside through the back entrance to the hideout. He had been slightly surprised to find Conan had not only awoken, but found his way into the hidden room. Still, he couldn't help but grin a bit at Tantei-kun's natural curiosity.

The shrunken detective had even managed to find the KID suit almost instantly, much to Kaito's amusement. He had noticed the pencil floating after him, moving from one side of his head to the other as Shinichi studied the suit hanging in the closet. Kaito walked carefully up behind him, leaning so he could catch the deep curiosity and wonder that was in his gaze. The no longer teenage magician had waited a moment before greeting Shinichi, swiftly dodging as the pencil, which Kaito was sure had come from his desk, shot past his head.

They had exchanged a few more words with one another as Kaito showed his pride at his father's, and now subsequently his, secret lair. Though, for some reason Kaito couldn't quite comprehend, Shinichi seemed keen to leave already. It wasn't like they had other plans. Then again, he didn't really know just how long Tantei-kun had been in here.

Kaito had trouble holding on to his poker face as he stared off into space, recalling what had just happened and who was probably still outside at this very moment. He felt guilt eating away at his stomach, churning deep inside him. He wondered if Shinichi had felt similar when he had to leave the people he cared for.

He could almost understand the sentiment of Shinichi wanting to live with Ran after his...accident. Still, he knew that he couldn't do the same thing to Aoko. Being a master of disguise, meant he could almost pull it off, but staying so close to her would only end up hurting them both. No. At least until he found a way to get back into his teenage body he needed to stay far away from her.

Quickly recovering, he turned back to face Shinichi, giving him his brightest grin. "You shouldn't be so quick to leave, though. Shall I give you a tour?" He knew that it wasn't going to be easy to fool his favorite critic's keen eye, but he couldn't let him know about Aoko...not yet at least.

He watched as Shinichi gave him a bit of a skeptical look before quickly shrugging it off. He snorted lightly before replying, "Didn't know you were so excited to show me all your secrets, KID-san. Thurston must be rolling over in his grave right now. You've already broken two of his rules." Shinichi answered, with the heavy hint of sarcasm he was used to hearing from the not-child.

Kaito was taken aback for a moment before he shook his head, laughing. Slowly he cleared his throat, doing his best to drop into the deepest register possible. "Who said I keep all my secret's in here, Tantei-kun? Besides… have you forgotten who you're talking to?" Kaito gave a special signature KID smirk to Shinichi.

Shinichi had tried to get under his skin with a reference to a previous meeting. Well two could play at that game... Kaito then lightened his voice to that of Ran's, "I'm a perfectionist, remember?" Kaito continued to grin as he noticed Shinichi's face flush a bit.

Shinichi quickly shook his head, dropping his own voice. Though Kaito could tell he was slightly jealous at the fact that he had the ability to switch voices so flawlessly even in a child's body. "Never do that again. Seriously, you know I haven't forgiven you for that, right?"

Kaito chuckled, returning once more to his regular voice. "Yeah, the soccer balls at each of my next heists were a pretty good indication. Of course, at the time, I had no way of knowing that was your _girlfriend_ of all things."

This, of course, made Shinichi blush even further, all the more to the amusement of Kaito. "She's...not my girlfriend," he stated, without much emotion in his voice.

"Could have fooled me," said Kaito as he shrugged, still grinning from ear to ear, though inwardly an image of Aoko flashed in his mind, causing him to wince lightly. Maybe it was best if he dropped the subject. "At any rate I promised you a tour, didn't I? Still...I suppose that we better do this the proper way." He wandered over to a small chest, opening it, and removing something.

Suddenly there was a *poof* of smoke, and when Kaito reappeared in front of Shinichi, he was standing in a miniature version of the KID outfit. "Well, Tantei-kun, what do you think?" He stood there twirling around, his tail still slightly visible, though, his ears had disappeared beneath a miniature top hat.

Oh, he was enjoying the priceless reaction he was getting from his dear detective. "That...what the heck is that?!" Shinichi stared at him, wide eyed.

Kaito laughed. "Ah, I thought you might like it. Can't say I was originally planning on using it this way, but it does seem it will come in handy now."

Shinichi just stared at him, clearly dumbfounded, before he lifted his hand to his face in a gesture akin to frustration. "Don't tell me...you made this ridiculous outfit for me originally…"

Kaito grinned a goofy grin and clapped his now gloved hands. "Brilliant deduction, detective. Though honestly it still suits me way better than you." Kaito knew he sounded childish saying such a thing, but who cares? He was stuck in this body for now, might as well flaunt it. Besides, it was doing the trick of distracting the detective.

He watched as Shinichi shook his head and groaned. "...just show me whatever you were going to show me." Kaito's keen sense of hearing picked up Shinichi's mumbled "You little! I can't believe this guy, he doesn't know when to quit does he?"

Ignoring that last bit, Kaito skipped backwards in place a bit as he went through the motions of taking on the tour guide role. "This is where most of the behind the scenes magic takes place. Over here are where I keep my various layouts and blueprints of all the local museums and art galleries." He pulled out a drawer that was filled to the brim with papers.

He watched as Shinichi raised a hand to his chin in thought. "This explains a lot. Though, really it's a bit odd…" he said aloud as he glanced at the various blueprints and building schematics. "I mean, with technology and all, I kinda expected you to be using some sort of super-computer to look over the various building plans. Though, I have to admit these do look impressive…"

Kaito shrugged, but grinned nonetheless. "Honestly, most of the stuff here used to belong to my dad…" he had no reason to hide it any more. He had already mentioned to Shinichi about the previous KID, might as well be honest here. "He was rather old fashioned even in the age where computer technology was first taking off. I do use computers for initial research purposes as they are much more up to date. However, I gather my information in a variety of ways, and there is just something about having a physical copy…"

"Hmm…" Shinichi looked rather contemplative. Kaito had to wonder what was going through the little detective's head right now. In truth, he still felt a bit averse to showing his would be rival all of this, but it was pretty clear at this point that Shinichi had no real intentions of turning him in any more. Not that he really could at the moment anyway. Plus, he would need the detective's help in the near future if he were going to get through this.

A lot had happened in just the past couple of days. True, the trust he had earned from the detective had come from their numerous meetings in the past, but it was still somewhat humbling. It was strange having a would-be ally in all this. True he had Jii, but the age gap kind of played a factor, and Jii had been helping him more from the sidelines recently as Kaito had been concerned about him ever since the Nightmare incident. Thus, he continued to show Shinichi the rest of his father's hideout, holding no fear of the repercussions of such a decision.

~^.v.^~

Conan was still rather surprised at the fact that Kaito was so willing to show him all this. He really was showing him the secrets of the trade, and Conan himself had rather mixed feelings about this. Especially now that it was obvious that the thief was under the impression that he had no desire to reveal these secrets to anyone. The scary thing? He wasn't wrong. How much had their relationship changed that Kaito trusted him so implicitly?

He listened as Kaito continued to senselessly babble about the various "tools" he used to get in, and past security measures. It was so surreal. Just when had things turned into this?

Kaito continued to show him around the room, speaking proudly of all of the various "magic" items that were stored in the various cabinets and drawers along the wall. He also lead him into the walk-in closet, attached to the side of the room, where the various disguise materials and makeup were found. Though, they didn't linger there for very long before returning to the main room.

Conan's eyes wandered briefly to the ceiling, where he noticed a few model airplanes, and one larger scale model that looked like a prototype of the early hangglider design. Kaito's father certainly had a creative knack, and an obvious love for engineering design.

He then took notice of the old articles on the wall in picture frames; dated anywhere from ten, to nearly twenty years ago. They were all centered around KID, from successful heists of his, to his sudden disappearance. Some of them featured a younger looking KID, which was obviously Kaito, but most featured the first generation KID. So this was Kaito's father too, huh? He gazed at the blurry photographs and semi-yellowed papers, a bit of awe reflecting on his face.

Kaito must have noticed his gaze at some point, as he felt him, more than heard him come up behind him. "Oyaji was pretty amazing," The thief said softly as he stood there, staring at the articles on the wall.

Conan nodded lightly, unsure what else to say. He recalled the one time he had met KID years ago in the library with Ran. He had seemed like such a simple, and yet complex, guy. The riddles he left were just as interesting and entertaining as that of his son. He didn't know him personally...not really, but looking at these articles, he really felt like he did. They projected the air of Kaito's father radiantly, and Conan had to almost wonder if there was magic tied into them. They just seemed so surreal in and of themselves.

He glanced back at Kaito, whose eyes were sparkling even more than before. He could tell how much Kaito had admired his father. He felt a pang in his heart as he remembered the information that Kaito had revealed on the rooftop. Suddenly, his devotion to his goals made all the more sense.

Conan swayed a little on his feet, completely moved by the scene. His chest was warm, his heart palpitating in a pleasant manner. It was so awe striking Kaito's father had left all this for his son, leaving all these wonderful things for Kaito to admire him by, to remember him by, in his wake. They had obviously cared for each other a great deal.

There were still some missing pieces there. KID had been open about the existence of the ones who had killed his father, but he had failed to explain **why**. Though, he knew it had to have something to do with the gemstone he was searching for. He had deduced that much earlier. Still, what was it about this gem that was so important that someone would be willing to kill for it?

His curiosity was killing him, yet as he looked at Kaito's face, he could tell now wasn't the best time to bring it up. He was actually starting to feel a bit tired again. He found himself inadvertently yawning, breaking Kaito from his trance behind him.

"Guess it's getting kind of late, eh, detective?" Kaito grinned at him, though Conan could see a certain degree of exhaustion in his features too. It had been a long two days for both of them, even if the overly energetic mini-magician was showing very little signs of it.

Conan just nodded, quickly covering his mouth as he yawned yet again.

"Well, why don't we just sleep in here tonight?" Kaito said as he motioned at the empty space in the wall.

Conan was confused for a moment before Kaito snapped his fingers, and out of the wall came a full sized bed. Conan gaped at it for a second, then remembered where exactly he was. Of course a magician who often came home late at night would have a murphy bed, of all things, in his lair. Deciding he was too tired to deal with this nonsense at the moment, he just trotted over and collapsed on the bed. With that, he shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

~^.V.^~

Kaito gazed at the small not-child laying in the bed he usually collapsed on alone after late night heists, barely awake enough to put his costume away carefully.

He couldn't keep the warm smile off his face, as he gazed at his "master". He knew they still had a long way to go before they were able to fully understand each other, but for now, he was so glad the tiny detective was the one who had been with him when he had discovered his kitsune side. He couldn't have asked for a better partner in this situation.

He swished his tail, then walked over to where the detective had collapsed on the bed. He went over beside it, reaching over to a shelf where a white blanket was folded neatly. He gently picked it up, undoing the folding job, and drooped it over his shrunken friend. He then cuddled in next to him, gazing at his peaceful sleeping face, tilting his head a bit. He had to ponder on how Tantei-kun could sleep so peacefully after everything they had been through just that day.

As soon as that thought had finished, there was a spark of some sort, gently pulsating through Kaito's mind. His ears perked involuntarily, his fur standing on end, then relaxed. His eyes drooped as his whole body seemed to sink into the mattress, and he felt himself give into sleep.

 _ **~Well that was a bit longer than originally intended. Hope you all enjoyed. This author LOVES reviews/comments!~**_


	6. The Inferno of Magic

_**~Authors Note~**_

 _ **LadyS here. Hello and welcome to chapter 6 of Moonlight Reflections! This chapter is the first fully co-written chapter with Mist and I sharing about 50-50. Much thanks to Mist as always for her beta skills ;) I hope you all enjoy! :) Thanks for the over 2000 views and nearly 50 follows! It's really appreciated!**_

 _ **~AN2~**_

 _ **Hello, everyone! Mist here! Glad to see your all enjoying the story, and sticking with all the confusion this story presents… We're clearing it up! Slowly, but surely. Are you guys enjoying slowly discovering everything? Anyway, thank you all (and LadyS for her wonderful contributes to all of these chapters) and enjoy! :D**_

 _ **~Disclaimer: Neither of us own DC/MK all properties belong to original owner!~**_

~^.v.^~

It had been so long since he'd had a nightmare like this. It was the one recurring one that had truly struck his heart every time, causing him to panic. He had never let it show, that this dream terrified him so, at least not when he woke up.

He could almost feel the heat of the flames that were engulfing the room, licking at the edges of the window he had been thrown out of that time. His breath was coming out in fast gasps, his chest squirming with grief, for he still couldn't help but feel that it was _himself_ who had killed that person.

Trembles coursed down his spine. However, Conan couldn't move an inch. His feet were frozen to the ground. He couldn't run, and he couldn't move towards the flames to save him, and he cursed himself for it. He should be able to go save Seiji, do what he couldn't do long ago, undoing his wrong. Yet, he was just a useless block of ice, and not even the hungry inferno could melt him.

"Kamisama…" The voice sounding next to him was barely a whisper, filled with dread and sorrow. Conan could almost feel the person next to him shifting, plopping down to the ground and by the light shuffling sound shaking his head. Though he could barely recognize the voice in his foggy, panicked state, he felt strangely aware of the person who was suddenly next to him. "Oh dear Kamisama… what is this? Why is this?"

Hearing the weak voice again, Conan realized who it was. But why should _he_ be here. Kaito hadn't been here during this case, this haunting, traumatizing, despairing case. Yet, here he was, sitting on the ground on his knees, ears presumably flat, and tail fur doubtlessly bristling. In a sense, Kaito seemed even more fearful and depressed than Conan was, though he was hiding it well. Did he always stifle his feelings like this?

Conan found himself staring into space clearing his mind for a few moments, trying to collect his thoughts. He didn't even notice when the presence beside him shifted to be in front of him. It was only after he felt himself being shook, Kaito suddenly in his face, expression cool and calm, only his eyes showing his panic. Conan looked at him blankly for a second, not processing that there were words coming out of Kaito's mouth.

"...is anyone in there? How did we get here? Shinichi, what the hell is going on?" The sound snapped on. Conan dropped his jaw, then clicked it shut, placing his forehead in his palm as he took a few deep breaths. He then looked up at Kaito, who had seemingly calmed down a bit. In reality, his fear was growing on the inside, taking over all his senses. Conan furrowed his brow. Why in the world could he feel Kaito's emotions, and movements as if he himself were Kaito?

"Oi, Shinichi! Answer me!" Kaito's voice broke in through Conan's thought train, bringing him back down to earth.

"I… there is someone in there. And it's my fault. It's my fault he's dead, and damn it Kaito, I couldn't save him. I _killed_ him." Conan didn't quite know what drove him to tell Kaito that. Maybe it was because he could sense all of Kaito's panic and distress, maybe it was because he himself couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't take the guilt that he had left Seiji Asoh alone. He wanted Kaito to help him, despite how much he also despised that he had sunk so low as to need any help.

Music started playing in the background, coming from all directions. The sad, wallowing music of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. Haunting the area, surprisingly filled with no one but Kaito and Conan. Like a ghost of the past, the piano notes echoing through the otherwise silent area.

Conan's eyes had flown shut as soon as the music started, and he suddenly felt queasy. He could feel Kaito still in front of him, freezing at the sound of the forlorn music. It was almost like magic, terrible, poignant, black magic.

"You didn't kill him, okay?" Kaito's voice shattered the music, the silence, everything. Suddenly, all his fear and sadness was replaced with resolve, though the emotions did linger.

Conan opened his eyes slowly, blinking into Kaito's giant, indigo orbs. They were filled with strength, with the will to go on. However, they were also filled with that look someone got when they had seen too much, things that still haunted them to this very day.

Conan didn't respond, not knowing how to.

After a minute, Kaito continued. "I know you didn't kill him, because you're not that kind of person. There was nothing you could have done to save him, and yet, you tried your best. You did everything you _could_ , and that's what counts. You can't let it destroy you, not now, not ever."

Conan's breath caught in his throat, and he forced himself to give a tiny nod. Kaito's words were still echoing in his head, causing a buzzing sensation. He gulped, trying to force a smile. His face didn't respond, however, and his expression remained stony.

Kaito furrowed his brow, biting his lip, and looking a bit disappointed. "Whelp, apparently my inspirational speech didn't work, then. On to plan B."

From there, Kaito grabbed Shinichi's hand, forcing a smile as he dragged the shrunken detective away from the Autumn-colored flames.

Conan stumbled along, his legs not fully functioning. He watched the forest whirring past him, moving in a blur even though they were the ones running.

Kaito stopped, whipping around to face Conan. "There." He wore a bright grin on his shrunken face, his tail swishing back and forth excitedly.

Conan looked around, his own face lighting in surprise.

Right before him was a lake, waters calm as they reflected hoards of dotted lights, produced by millions of fireflies. In the background was the dark shadow of a tall building, fireworks shooting off from the roof. It was a marvelous scene, the fireflies bouncing around in the air, and the building where he had first met Kid in the background.

He was filled with a sense of serenity, his heartbeat calming and his breath slowing. Kaito was experiencing the same as he stood next to Conan, admiring the scene. The magician's tiny child hands were folded behind his back, and his tail fur smooth.

A firefly danced onto Conan's shoulder, wings fluttering as it came to a rest. Conan gazed at its glowing beauty for a second, then turned his eyes back to the scenery, all reflected magnificently in the lake. It was a scene that stole his breath away, taking it right from his lungs.

Conan slowly turned towards Kaito after what seemed like an eternity of peaceful quiet.

"Feel better?" Kaito asked, returning the look with a grin.

Before Conan got a chance to respond, the whole place vanished, sinking into darkness. He felt a wave of sorrow that the scene was gone, but that washed away as quickly as the scene had gone to the darkness.

His eyes peered open, and he turned over in the bed of an unfamiliar place to face Kaito, who was already looking with indigo eyes at Conan still dressed in full KID regalia.

The shrunken detective blinked, furrowing his brows. "Did...did you seriously fall asleep in that ridiculous outfit?"

~^.V.^~

"Good morning to you too, Tantei-kun!" Kaito said with a stretch, deciding to ignore the inquiry. Normally he would come up with a more suitable quip on the detective's behalf, but honestly he was feeling rather distracted at the moment.

His brain was still buzzing with the remnant's of the strange dream he had just had. It had started out so much like a nightmare. Though one he hadn't had in quite some time.

Perhaps it was this room, and thoughts of his father that had spurned the dream, but there was certainly something strange about it. For one, Shinichi had been there, and he had been going on about someone named "Seiji". He could remember doing his best to comfort the detective, as well as calm his own strange emotional chaos.

He had reacted on instinct, taking what little control he could of the situation, and fleeing from the cause of the chaos. It had lead to some rather...interesting results. The images were slowly beginning to fade from his mind, but he could still just barely see them dancing around him as if he could just reach out and touch them.

He heard a gasp from beside him as something small and bright landed on his shoulder. Was that a... firefly? Kaito found himself blinking as a few more joined it, floating aimlessly in front of both he and Conan.

Kaito stood there watching them, confused. He sent a brief look over Conan's way, noticing his sky blue eyes wide and wonder-filled as the shrunken detective watched the fluttering bugs. Were they still dreaming? He glanced at the room around him. They were in KID's lair, the same place where they had both fallen asleep last night. It certainly _felt_ real.

He reached out timidly, trying to touch one of the fireflies only for it disappear alongside the rest of them. Well, that was interesting. He glanced back over at the detective, who seemed just as lost as he was. So, not a dream then. Could this have had something to do with either of their magic?

"Tantei-kun, do you remember any of your dream last night?" Kaito tilted his head to the side curiously.

Conan blinked back at him. "Uh, yeah, I guess so...the images are a bit foggy, but I remember a fire, and then a forest, and some sort of lake… with fireflies." Once again there were small twinkling lights that appeared before both Kaito and Conan, but they faded much more quickly this time.

Kaito bit his lip, holding back a gasp. Had he and Shinichi really just had the same dream? This was just bizarre on so many levels. Then there were those strange "after images" that kept appearing. Judging by the look on Conan's face, he was just as confused as he was. So there could be only one explanation then. Magic.

Unfortunately after the incident with Akako yesterday, Kaito had no more desire to talk to the witch and try and get more information. in fact he was rather determined to stay as far away as possible from her. But who else did he know who could possibly explain what just happened?

His mother? Tried that. It didn't work last time, and somehow he doubted that it would be any different if he tried to contact her again now. Jii? No it was unlikely he had any real information to give him either. It was hard to say how much the old man knew about all this, and he had been rather clamp jawed in the past. Plus it would probably just cause him unnecessary worry.

Well he could try and search the library or the web for the information, but that wasn't always reliable. It was a start, but he wasn't sure he wanted to gamble on it just yet. ' _We're really running low on options here…'_ Kaito thought to himself.

"You're right, there really aren't a lot of viable options. We probably could try contacting my parents again. Though, I can't say they would be honestly willing to tell us anything either." Kaito was broken from his thoughts as Conan spoke up.

It took his brain a minute to process before he nodded, shrugging. "Worth a shot...I mean we really don't have a lot of other…" Kaito blinked, something suddenly registering in his mind. "Err, Shinichi...how exactly did you know what I was thinking about?"

Conan blinked back at him, looking somewhat confused. "Huh? You just went through a whole bunch of options for finding out about this magic stuff didn't you?"

Kaito shook his head. "No. I didn't say anything. I was _thinking_ about our options, but I certainly didn't _say_ that I was thinking about such things. The last thing I said was asking you about what you dreamed about."

"But I clearly just heard you say 'we're really running low on options here'." Conan replied. "Are you sure you didn't just say that?"

' _No, but I thought it._ ' Kaito thought to himself, making sure the shrunken detective noticed his mouth wasn't moving in the least, and suddenly he saw Conan visibly flinch.

"Telepathy...interesting." Kaito smirked a bit at this, though in truth he was a bit unnerved. If the young detective could read his thoughts, how much else did he know? "What other powers are you hiding in that brain of yours, Tantei-kun?" Kaito said aloud, only half to himself.

Conan shook his head. "I don't know, as I said, my parents may know something. And please stop being so nervous, Kaito. I may not be able to control this...ability of mine, but so far, all I've heard is your current thoughts. I can't see any further into your mind...yet."

Kaito did visibly relax a bit, though in his mind he began to place several makeshift barriers to keep Shinichi out. For all the good it would do. Neither one of them knew exactly how this magic was working.

For all he knew, Shinichi could have already seen something he wasn't supposed to. Not that he had a lot of secret's left in the first place that Shinichi didn't already know. However, that didn't change the fact that Shinichi freely peeking into his mind whenever he felt didn't seem right to Kaito.

"So then...we call your parents?" Kaito asked aloud, trying to keep his inner thoughts to a minimum.

Conan nodded. "After breakfast. Though, I doubt they will have all the answers. I'm honestly curious. Your witch mentioned a magic block yesterday, and obviously they know exactly why it was put there. I have no memory of it being placed on me, which stands to reason its been there for some time. I plan to find out how long, and for what reason, one way or another." Conan wore a determined expression as he balled his hands into fists.

Kaito did his best to hide a shutter. He knew what the tiny tantei was capable of when determined. He had seen it first hand enough times both on himself and other less reputable criminals. Granted, he seemed to recall a vague memory of Shinichi's parents being rather intimidating individuals themselves, but that mattered little in this case. "Alright. Breakfast first, then we call them."

~^.V.^~

After a swift breakfast, Conan and Kaito headed back up to Kaito's room. Conan grabbed up his cell phone, which was using Kaito's charger on the desk, and unlocked it. He went to contacts, going straight to his father's, and dialing it. As the phone rang, Conan put it on speaker, so Kaito, who was behind him, could hear the conversation as well.

"Shin-chan~~~!" There came the loud squeal of his mother, causing Kaito's fur to stand on end for a mere second before the magician calmed himself. Conan cringed a bit, realizing that his powers must be working without his will once more, as he could perfectly picture Kaito behind him. That could also be their familiar connection, though... he wasn't quite sure.

"What was all that yesterday? You called, not even giving me a chance to answer before you went on a quick rant about how 'I need you to cover for me' and 'I'm traveling with Shinichi, as Conan, with you'. I couldn't even pick up most of what you said! You're lucky I got the important things, I think." Yukiko didn't sound happy in the least, her voice accusing. Conan cringed, biting his lip. Right, that.

"That would be my fault," Kaito broke in, with a slight cough announcing his presence. Conan raised his brow towards him, holding back a laugh.

"Sh-Shinichi?" Yukiko sounded completely and utterly dumbfounded. Then, her voice returned to accusing. "Very funny, using your bowtie to freak me out… Are you in some sort of malicious mood?"

"Not really." Conan sent a grin towards Kaito. "I mean, my bowtie isn't even with me at the moment. I left it downstairs. Not that I can really offer you any proof."

"We could always…" Kaito paused, gesturing towards his head. Conan nodded, furrowing his brow. Nothing came through. He shook his head. Kaito shrugged, mouthing the words to Conan, who nodded, then held up his fingers one at a time. Once he held up a third one, they spoke in unison.

"Talk at the same time." Conan could just imagine his mother's face at the moment. He half hoped his dad was around too, as this was a very nice form of revenge for all that they'd done to him.

"Are you getting Haibara to help you or something? The Hakase?" Yukiko seemed to be desperately trying to figure out what was going on, her voice frustrated, with a hint of amusement.

"Nope," Kaito said smoothly.

"Alright boys, that's enough." And in came Yusaku, obviously already knowing what was going on. His voice wasn't at all angry, nor was it particularly happy, either. In fact, it just seemed grim.

There was a bit of whispering on the other side of the phone. Then, Yusaku spoke again; "Go ahead and explain this to me. I've already got the gist of it I assure you, but some more detail would be nice. Especially on how my son's magic got released."

Kaito and Conan remained silent, glancing toward each other. Briefly, Conan questioned how his father so obviously knew a lot about what had happened over the past three days, but in the end, he shook the thought away. It really didn't matter all that much how he knew it, it just mattered that he did indeed know it.

Kaito was the first one to speak up. "A witch friend of mine, Akako, released it with Shinichi's consent. We went to see her due to my own seal breaking."

"I see…" There was that 'what have you done?' edge to Yusaku's voice. Conan could feel his judgemental expression from the other end of the phone, boring deeply into him. He had never heard, nor seen, his father this serious.

There was then a sigh of defeat on the other end of the phone. "Well, I guess what's done is done. We'll just have to work with this. I'm sure you want some sort of explanation for all this, as well. In exchange, I expect your cooperation in this matter. I'm sure you can understand the value of secrets, isn't that right...Kaito."

Conan could sense the tingles going up Kaito's spine at that. Conan was just about starting to think that he'd never really known his father like he'd thought he had, the mellow mystery novelist that just enjoyed travelling with his wife and playing the occasional prank. Now that he thought about it, his image of his father had always been rather shallow. They had never really had that deep of a connection, after all. Conan hadn't really ever minded that, at least, not until now.

"Well, I can't give you all of what you want, I think you're already aware. But, I can at least elaborate a little, so let's get on with it," Yusaku's voice just sounded a bit tired now. "I'll start from the beginning. Shinichi," Conan made sure he was listening carefully, "you come from an ancient race of mind-magic users, one which goes by a name that nearly no one carries anymore. Kudo is a pen name, which I created on the spot. Our true surname is Mahori, named after our brand of magic. At least, that's the closest translation in Japanese. No one knows what the surname originally was at this point."

Conan and Kaito gave each other impressed looks, Kaito giving Conan a teasing bow. Conan glowered at him, huffing.

"As you already know, Kaito is your familiar, which, believe it or not, we actually discovered when you were around three years old. That was before we were able to rid you of your magic, clearing you of any memory of ever having it."

Conan gave Kaito a surprised glance, which was returned. They had met before all this, when they were three? And they had become bonded through the familiar relationship then? This was news to them.

"We had a good reason for ridding of your magic. A few, actually. Unfortunately, I can't reveal to you any of the reasons that you would like to hear, only ones that would sound as feeble excuses," Yusaku went on, taking a deep breath as he finished up his explanation, "and I'm afraid that's all I can give you at the moment. Just know that we did everything we did for a reason, Shinichi."

Conan was unsatisfied with this explanation, of course, but he had expected this kind of thing. At least his father had been able to give him a bit more on his magic type, and the origins of his magic. He just had one question… "So, how do I learn to control this magic of mine?"

Yusaku took a moment to answer. "That's a tricky question. I had wished to be the one to teach you, if your magic was ever released, but I can't really go to Japan at the moment. I'm stuck here on official business. I'm afraid that you're either going to have to find out a way to keep your magic hidden from the world until I'm available, or you can go search for a suitable magic teacher."

Yusaku paused as if waiting for a reaction before continuing. "Kaito the same goes for you. I don't know how much your mother has revealed to you. Judging by the fact you called us, not much. However it's not my place to reveal any more here. In the mean while, I may suggest checking further into your father's notes, which I have no doubt he kept safely hidden. I'm sure one such as yourself knows where to find them, though." There was an almost fond tone to Yusaku's voice, though the last sentence was said with a bit of a challenging edge.

Conan nodded, taking note of this. He definitely wasn't going to go back to Akako… so he might just have to keep his magic in control, for the most part, with his own willpower. Not how he wanted to do it, but it would have to do.

"Alright, now, please do give me an explanation of how you guys got together, and what exactly happened to reveal that Kaito has been a kitsune this whole time?"

"It's a pretty crazy story, actually," Conan started, pursing his lips. "I met with Kaito when he had a heist as Kid, going after a certain treasure called 'Perseus' Shield'." Conan made note of the negative feeling coming over from the other side of the phone at the name of the treasure.

"Things went on from there, Kaito kidnapped me, he turned into a kitsune, and then Kaito turned into a child after a while. It was pretty weird, but I took it pretty well." That was a lie, and both Conan and Kaito were aware of it, judging from the snort Kaito gave. He had fainted due to the fact that Kaito had turned into a kitsune, then a child doppleganger. He wasn't going to admit that to his father, though.

"Ah. I must give you a warning, then. Be careful with that Shield, alright? It would seem it is the real thing. I'll be honest, I don't know nearly as much about it as your mother might, Kaito, but if my theory is correct, it is made from a similar magic to that of my and Shinichi's bloodline. It most likely reacted to your powers as, if I'm indeed accurate, it was originally created to reveal hidden truths."

Conan and Kaito glanced at each other at this. They had nearly forgotten about that little tidbit of the night. "Tousan, when I looked into the shield it showed me my face...my teenager face. Why is that?"

Yusaku seemed to pause a bit at this. "I'm not sure how to answer that. However… I am curious. Kaito, tell me, what did you see when you looked into the Shield?"

Kaito flinched, having been put on the spot, and considered the question briefly. In truth, he had been kind of curious about this as well. "Well, when I first touched the Shield, I saw myself as me...actually, I never stopped seeing my simple reflection in the shield, even after I turned back into a fox, and then a boy."

Once again, there was a pause on the other end of the line. Finally, Yusaku answered. "Interesting. As best I can explain, the Shield was indeed reacting to your power. It reflected...what could best be termed as the 'Illusion of Truth'. Somewhat surprising, and quite intriguing, given the circumstances."

Kaito and Shinichi were both equally confused. Kaito was the first to speak up. "What exactly do you mean; 'Illusion of Truth', and what does that have to do with current circumstances?"

Yusaku sighed. "It's something your father used to say, actually. I always called him out for what he was, but he just smiled and said that 'truth is one of life's greatest illusions.' It was rather irritating, actually."

Kaito held back a fond laugh at this. That did sound exactly like something his father would say, too. He felt a pang in his heart at the would-be memory. Conan cringed a bit as he realized once again he was reading Kaito's emotions.

"Anyway," Yusaku cleared his throat, "if I'm correct, the shield seems to be running by a similar principle. It saw your illusion...that of your teenage and child body as your 'true form' at the time and reflected as such. However, due to the fact the shield was made of opposing magic, it caused a serious drain on your powers, nonetheless weakening the seal and transforming you back to a kitsune."

Conan and Kaito both remained silent throughout the explanation, taking in Yusaku's words. Though it was still confusing, it was actually a pretty decent explanation. "That would explain why I felt so drained that night…" Kaito mused softly, brow furrowing a little..

Conan could almost see his father nod on the other end of the line. "Precisely. On that note, make sure the Shield doesn't get into the wrong hands. Its an item of strong magic, and can be used for deeds that, in our eyes, are evil."

Conan saw Kaito nod, though he knew the ones on the other end couldn't see it. "My mother actually mentioned something along those lines. I'm keeping it safe, don't you worry."

"Alright, then. I'm afraid I must let you two go now… I have a book signing to get to." Yusaku barely gave Conan a chance to say goodbye, before handing the phone back to Yukiko.

"Shin-chan, I love you. I really do. Sorry this all had to happen so suddenly. Just… keep going, and take care of Kaito." It was the softest and most caring Shinichi had heard his mother's voice in a while.

There was a sudden, tiny pain in his heart, and he felt a wave of homesickness. Then, it was just a wave of dry disdain, as he gave a quiet, sarcastic huff of laughter, causing Kaito to give him a quizzical look. Conan didn't bother to explain it to the magician, pondering over his semi-stupidity. Why would he be longing for a life he had before he had turned fourteen, when his parents had left? They had never been this supportive of him, even when he was younger.

Yukiko seemed to wait for something, maybe a reply, then hung up. Conan shoved his phone into his pocket, then turned to Kaito. "So… What now?"

Kaito seemed to think on it for a second. "Well… we have very few options. We need to finish up some stuff here first, but I would like to get out of Tokyo as soon as possible. We have too many people who could recognize us in this area. I say we go to a rural area, with less people. Maybe in the Ishikawa prefecture."

Conan nodded. The Ishikawa prefecture wasn't as populated as other places in Japan, and they wouldn't have to cross the sea to get to it. It would still take awhile to get there, especially if they walked all the way. They would probably be able to catch a train though… If they could come up with some good disguises. At least something that would hide Kaito's ears and tail. "Okay. What about our magic?"

"I'm actually not really sure. I don't know anyone other than Akako that knows magic, so getting someone to tutor you in controlling your magic looks bleak. I think I'll take a look at my father's notes that your father mentioned and go from there with that one… I'm not sure how much it'll help, but I'm hoping it will give us at least something of an idea on getting your magic under control." Kaito's tail swished across the floor as he fiddled with a coin.

"Since I don't have any ideas on that either, I guess it's our only option… Well, let's go ahead and get started on all that then! We have quite a bit to do."

The two boys quickly went their separate ways, Kaito going to look for his father's notes as well as get lunch started, and Conan off to pack and prepare for the trip.

~^.v.^~

Unbeknownst to them, they were about to encounter another hiccup in their plans. For somewhere on the edges of the Ekoda border, a familiar figure stepped, smiling cooly, and taking in a breath of fresh air, with a smooth look he stretched.

"Welcome back, Bocchama."

He turned, his blonde locks swaying in the slight breeze. "Thank you. It's good to be back."

With that, the two figures slipped into a car and drove away. As they went along, one of the figures had to wonder; what was this new magical presence in Ekoda? He was positive it hadn't been there before.

 _ **~ Post Note~**_

 _ **Shadow here again! Hope that this chapter cleared up some stuff about the magic behind the shield and such. If you have any questions please feel free to either leave a comment here or pm either me or Mist. We will get back to you as soon as possible! Both of us love and appreciate reviews so please if you can let us know how you feel ;)**_

 _ **Updates from here will be infrequent I'm afraid as Mist returns to school full time. We will try to at least post once every couple of weeks, but if we go on hiatus I truly apologize! That said...thanks again for reading/following this story! Until next chapter~**_


	7. Hakuba the Hunter

_**Hello Everybody! Welcome to the next chapter of Moonlight Reflections. This chapter was written pretty much entirely by me this time around as Mist is still very busy with school. Nonetheless thanks to both her and the beautiful Lizzy Aka BloodiedCoreOfHope for the help betaing!**_

 _ **Oh of special note: Happy 20TH(Anime says he was born in 97) birthday to Saguru Hakuba! This chapter HEAVILY features him though I'm not sure if it was by coincidence or not XD Nonetheless Happy Birthday! For those reading this post update: This was chapter was first posted/published on 29th Aug 2017.**_

 _ **Thanks again to all the readers/reviewers! We really appreciate your feedback. it keeps us motivated. :) 50 followers and 3,000 views! I am not worthy T_T**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I do not own the characters. Except Takano. He is ALL mine ;) (Just ask Lizzy) All else belong to Gosho! Please support his work!**_

 _ **All that said ENJOY!**_

~^.v.^~

"Are you sure you want to go to class today, Bocchama? You just got back from a rather long trip." Baaya glanced sideways at Saguru's dishevelled form. He could tell she knew that he was disturbed by something from the tone of her voice.

He waved her off. "Thank you for your concern, but I'm sure I'll be know I've lived on far less sleep than this. Besides, I'm rather eager to get back to class." He smiled politely at her. In truth, his mind was rather preoccupied at the moment.

Baaya shook her head in reluctant acceptance."If that is what you wish." She stopped the car in front of Ekoda High, where the last of the students were trickling in before the first bell.

"Thank you, Baaya. I will see you after school." Stepping out of the car, he bowed politely to her. He watched as she drove away, though if he was being honest he could indeed feel the wave of of exhaustion threatening to overwhelm him. Still, he would fight through it.

Taking a quick look at his pocket watch, he took off for class. As he drew closer to the room, in the back of his mind, a strange alarm was going off. He could feel the strange magical signature from before growing ever nearer, if only faintly. He chose to ignore it, though it practically began screaming at him as he entered his classroom. He was a bit surprised to see its source; Akako Koizumi.

Everyone's eyes became fixed on him as he entered the room, including the cool gaze of the aforementioned beauty. She narrowed her eyes at him as he entered, causing his cheeks to gain a crimson hue. He had always known of her bewitching magic, having had picked up on her magical signature the first time he met her, but that didn't make it any easier to resist her. She wore her magic like a perfume, a sweet, alluring fragrance that caused men to fall at her feet. All save for one Kaito Kuroba who, for unknown reasons, seemed to be immune to the effect.

He had a theory about that. Still, that was neither here nor there. Now was not the time to reflect on such things. If anything, he was finding himself overwhelmed by the strange mixture of magics radiating off the beauty. The usual seductive magic was there, but there was something else too. Two something elses in fact. They were faint... Almost unnoticeable but they were there nonetheless. How curious indeed.

Composing himself, he turned his gaze away from her and moved to his seat. A few of his classmates came up to him briefly to chat with him about his trip, but none knew he was lying through his teeth about it. He could still feel Koizumi's distractingly cold gaze upon him, tingling along his spine, even as he overheard one of his classmates, Ichiro Takano was it? Loudly saying something that perked his interest a great deal: a heist which had seemingly taken place a few days ago in his absence.

"He sure is taking his time with this one! Apparently they're saying he still hasn't returned what he stole that night, even though there's rumors that the great 'Kid Killer' was there somewhere at the heist. Maybe the little brat's losing his touch," Takano ranted, making wide gestures with his arms to keep his friends interested.

Saguru shook his head in disbelief at this. In his mind, he pictured the too-smart elementary schooler who he had bumped into on a couple of occasions now. Under most circumstances, he would be skeptical, and might even have laughed at an elementary schooler facing off against his would be rival, but there was something truly strange about that Edogawa kid. Something that made Saguru a bit… wary.

His intelligence was far beyond that of a regular child, rivaling even his own and that of several other detective's. He nearly groaned aloud as a picture of that loud mouthed Osakan popped unbidden into his head. He had to admit that next to himself, the kid had the greatest track record for running into and matching wits with the aggravating thief.

"Oh, I wouldn't be too certain of that." Akako purred from the background, causing everyone, including Saguru, to turn and face her. "If anything, I'd say the two of them are in cahoots with one another." She spoke with her usual haughty, knowing air, though there was an undercurrent of something else in her voice. Was that...anger?

Saguru flinched, unsure what to make of that comment. He could tell that she was being serious by her tone, but still the very idea of it seemed wrong. A detective, even one as young and impressionable as Edogawa, working together with a thief? Absurd! Then again, thinking back on it, he himself had been caught off guard by the thief on occasion, especially when some rather shady characters began to show their faces at his heists.

Apparently Aoko seemed to agree with him for whatever reason, despite the fact that the murmurs around her were automatically agreeing with Akako. "I don't think that's possible, Akako-chan." Aoko broke in.

Akako raised an eyebrow at her. Saguru could practically feel the heat radiating off her. He questioned the sudden shift in atmosphere, unsure what had brought it on. "Oh? And why might that be, Nakamori-san?"

Aoko stood tall, despite the sudden glares of boys around her. No matter how many times he saw it, he was still amazed at the power of Koizumi's magical pull. She practically had the whole class under her thumb, it was one of those things that never ceased to disturb him.

"The KID Killer's too smart for the likes of that idiot! He probably just had to leave to go home to bed or... Something." Aoko replied, determined not to give any ground despite the uncertainty in her voice. "I don't know why that jerk KID hasn't given the shield back yet, but I'm sure there's a reason for it!"

"Sounds to me like you're trying to defend them both, Nakamori-san." Akako commented with an icy voice. She locked gazes briefly with Aoko, challenging her with a look that spoke of something akin to jealousy.

Aoko's cheeks tinted a bit as Akako said this, and Saguru found himself thinking back to the incident where he had misjudged KID again when he had jumped into a pit after Aoko to save her, as opposed to escaping scot free. He could tell something in Aoko's attitude towards KID had changed after that. He remained uncertain of if she had figured out the truth or not, but he had _seen_ the looks she had given Kaito not long afterwards.

Speaking of Kaito...He gave a contemplative look at the empty seat ahead of him. Class had indeed started, the teacher choosing to ignore the usual chatter and just continue teaching regardless. Yet, Kaito was still conspicuously absent. While choosing to skip class was not entirely unusual for the prankster, if the heist truly had been held a few days ago, then why had he not returned?

It could be that he was just sick but, if that was the case then Aoko looked far too relaxed. He had observed the two enough to see that Aoko cared quite a bit for the prankster magician. If he were sick she would most likely be tense with worry, wanting to go home and help the poor fool. Still, despite the earlier outburst, she showed no outward signs of tension, instead humming to herself as she settled into taking notes.

No. There was another reason behind this, he was certain of it. He could feel the nagging sensation in his back of his mind; the seed of suspicion eating away at his thoughts even as he did his best to concentrate on the moment at hand. Somehow, what had happened at the heist and Kaito's suspicious absence were connected.

Could it be that he had been injured at the heist and therefore was taking more time to return than usual? Saguru quickly shook his head at this thought. Unlikely, unless the injury was rather grave. After all, during the previous incident with Aoko, he had returned the very next school day, looking none the worse for wear, despite his reportedly taking some sort of blow for her. Aoko had even mentioned going on a motorcycle ride with him shortly afterwards.

He frowned down at the paper below him, his pen trailing off as he mindlessly took notes. He could still feel that strange tug at the back of his mind that told him he was missing some rather crucial details. His eyes went in and out of focus. Maybe Baaya was right and he should have taken the day off. The exhaustion was really starting to get to him.

Then again… He couldn't deny that something strange was going on here. He felt a small fire light inside himself as he thought this, but there was something else too. A small voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like KID's reminded him that there was more to it than that. That there were pieces missing and that it was ' _his job to figure it out'_.

His resolve wavered a bit as he glanced over at Kaito's empty desk. There was still something disquieting about his absence. He was loath to admit that the magician actually added an air of excitement and energy to an otherwise boring class period. Still, Saguru could feel the itch of curiosity slowly growing inside him. Unfortunately, he would have to wait until lunch to confront Aoko.

~^.v.^~

Aoko could feel Hakuba staring at her from behind for almost the entirety of their first class period. Although... She had also noticed him gazing at Kaito's seat with a mixture of expressions as well.

She didn't have to be a detective like him to know exactly what was on his mind. After all, hadn't she just predicted what his reaction would be the day before? She could honestly see why Kaito was always so reluctant to hang out with him. No doubt Hakuba was waiting until lunch to confront her for information, which gave her a bit of free time to think over her response.

Still, she refused to let herself get too wound up over it. After all, she knew very well where Kaito was, right? He had left her that note and everything… She found a slight trickle of doubt seeping into the back of her mind, but quickly subdued it by throwing herself into her school work.

The first four hours of class went by seamlessly; entirely without incident. It really was a strange feeling; not having the annoying prankster around to flip her skirt at every opportunity. The rest of the class had taken notice of his absence as well, though some still remained tense as if waiting for him to pop out of a corner at any given moment

Aoko had to admit that even though she knew he wasn't going to be around for a while, she half expected him to jump scare her too. By now it was ingrained in her instincts to keep an eye out for her friend, and do everything in her power to pay him back for his pranks. Just the day before his disappearance they had had their usual dance around the classroom with a mop.

Having been friends with Kaito for years now, it was hard not to pick up on a few of his quirks. Her "poker face" wasn't nearly as refined as Kaito's. After all, she tended to wear her heart on her sleeve most days, but even she knew she had to keep her cool while dealing with Saguru Hakuba, the heart-throb of the female populace at Ekoda High.

It was with a straight laced expression that she went to lunch, intimately aware of the person following behind her. As expected, Hakuba pulled her aside in the hallway putting a hand gently on her shoulder. "Aoko-san, a word please?"

Aoko gave him her best smile, blushing somewhat under his strong grip. "Sure. Ummm, here or…"

"In private if we could." He replied, ignoring the students whispering around them.

Aoko heard some snippets of the conversations, something about "If the cat's away...". She decided to ignore it ,knowing that rumors had their way of spreading around this school like wildfire. Still, if she was interpreting them correctly, then they were wrong on all accounts. She had no feelings for either Kaito, or Hakuba...right?

She followed Hakuba up to the roof of the school, which was, unsurprisingly, empty. She leaned against the fence, waiting for Hakuba to explain his reasoning for bringing her up here to talk, and watched as he gazed about, looking as if he was expecting someone to pop out of nowhere. Aoko noticed that he was staring at something...a bird? She also noted some movement out of the corner of her eye, some sort of odd shadow, though it quickly disappeared from view.

Hakuba turned back to face her. "Is something the matter, Aoko-san?"

Aoko shook her head. "N-nothing. So what is it you wanted to talk about, Hakuba-kun?" She bit her lip, hiding the shivering sensation she got from the shadow she had just saw. For some reason it reminded her of the crow from before. "Is it about Kaito?"

She felt a bit of pride at the shocked look on Hakuba's face when she said this. Score one for detective Aoko! Though the excitement didn't last long, as Hakuba's expression quickly became serious.

"Yes actually…" He paused.

Aoko crossed her arms. Wait for it…

"Do you happen to know why Kuroba-kun is absent today?" Hakuba looked at her carefully, a gentle expression on his face. .

Aoko balled her hands into fists. Coming from anyone else, the question may be simple enough, but she knew that there was an air of suspicion hidden in the blond detective's question. She had stood as moderator between Kaito and Hakuba's squabbles enough to know his stance on anything Kaito related. Unfortunately, she had expected this from him.

If Kaito were here, it was most likely he would have come back with some sort of overly sarcastic quip like; "None of your business", or maybe; "Do I look like I keep track of people?", or possibly; "What's that got to do with me?". She could practically picture the annoyed look on his face.

Yet, Kaito wasn't here, and Aoko was most certainly not him, so she decided to just give him a mostly straight answer, followed by her own question. "Yes, I do. Why? Are you worried about him, Hakuba-kun? I didn't know you cared that much about him..." She tilted her head curiously.

Hakuba paused, obviously caught off-guard. Aoko kind of wished Kaito was here just so he could see the look on his face. She admired Hakuba, but sometimes he was just a bit too overzealous. It kind of irritated her when he consistently called Kaito out on being something he wasn't… A small voice in the back of her head reminded her that she wasn't so sure of that, but she quickly shooed it away.

Hakuba cleared his throat quickly, regaining composure. "You could say that. It would seem I missed some things while I was gone."

Aoko took note that he didn't directly mention the heist, but she caught the implication nonetheless. She also didn't miss the slight blush on Hakuba's cheeks. Huh...so he did care for Kaito somewhat. Well, that was unexpected. That or she had just embarrassed him with such implications.

Aoko giggled a bit, despite herself. "To answer your question before you ask it: Kaito just got kidnapped a couple of days ago by his mom. I'm not sure when he will be back, but he did say in his note he would call at some point to let me know how things are going."

Hakuba gave her a curious look. "He left you a note?" It was funny that of all things, that was the thing he picked up on.

Aoko raised an eyebrow back at him, confused by his odd reaction. "Didn't I just say that? Kaito's mom is rather spontaneous. He didn't have the time to say goodbye face to face, so he left me a note."

Hakuba rested a hand on his chin looking every part the detective that he was. "Hmm. If it's alright, Aoko-san, may I see the note?"

Aoko looked at him skeptically before reaching into her bag to retrieve Kaito's note. In truth, she hadn't had the heart to let go of it since receiving it. "Alright, I guess. Though I don't know what you want with my personal note." She slowly handed it over not seeing any harm in letting him read it. True, it _was_ kind of personal, but Hakuba wasn't the type to make fun of such things. It couldn't hurt to let him look at it.

"Thank you, Aoko-san." He took it from her careful not to rip or bend any of the edges.

Aoko watched as Hakuba's eyes lit it up with something unidentifiable as he read through the note in his hand. She noticed him suppress a gasp at something, though he quickly hid any emotions behind his eyes, scanning the contents of the note over and over. He furrowed his brow as if deep in thought about something, before shaking his head and mumbling under his breath. Finally, he handed the note back to her. "Thank you, Aoko-san. I really must apologize for imposing on your time and personal space like this."

Aoko shook her head and shrugged. "It's no big deal. I can't blame you for being curious, right? I can understand that much. Besides, Kaito has done far worse…"

Hakuba nodded at this, and they both turned as there was a five minute warning bell. "I see. Well, I suppose I have taken enough of your time away from you. Although... if I may ask one last question, Aoko-san?"

Aoko turned around just as she was about to head through the roof door. "What's that, Hakuba-kun?"

Hakuba gained the same serious expression from before. "Did your father mention anything odd about the heist the other night?"

This time Aoko found herself caught off guard by the question. She paused, standing there in the doorway and trying to compose her thoughts. She wasn't sure why he waited until last to ask her that question, but now that she thought about it, her father had mentioned something. "I shouldn't really talk about this, but since you work with the task force…" Aoko paused unsure if she should continue.

Well there wasn't much harm in giving him the truth. "Dad said there was some sort of other criminal activity that night. Apparently there was someone else present at the heist, and he had guns on him. Dad didn't really tell me much, though he did say KID got away unharmed." Technically he hadn't really said any of that officially, more like swore his head off about it while ranting, and Aoko had overheard him. It wasn't an uncommon thing when it came to his job.

She noticed Hakuba had been given pause at this, and wondered briefly if she had said too much, but he quickly flashed her a smile. "Thank you, Aoko-san. I appreciate your honesty and your help."

Aoko shrugged, blushing again. Her, helpful? Somehow she doubted that. She turned and rushed the rest of the way to class, her lunch long since forgotten.

~^.v.^~

Saguru lingered there momentarily, thinking through all the information he had just received. _'Most intriguing.'_ He mused silently.

His mind was rushing with thoughts of the heist he had failed to attend, but there was something else flooding his thoughts as well. The letter that Kaito had left for Aoko. More specifically, what was tied to that letter.

It was just about as faint as it could be, but nonetheless it was there. One of the same magical signatures that Akako was carrying earlier. Though, this one was much more fresh. If Kuroba was truly the one who wrote that note...that left some very intriguing insinuations. Ones that he would have to follow up later after school if at all possible.

Hmm, it may be a good idea to bring Watson along for this venture. If what Aoko had mentioned was true, it was possible there may be a bit of a blood trail left. If there were any trail at all, that was. KID wasn't the type to overlook such details.

There was a spike of adrenaline as Saguru began to think through his next course of action. He may not have been at the heist, but that didn't mean he couldn't follow up on it. If things went as planned, he may just find the answers he was seeking. Slowly turning to return to class, he spoke in a hushed tone. "Just you wait, KID. You can't hide forever."

~^.v.^~

Elsewhere, back at his father's hidden room, Kaito felt a wave of cold rush over him. What was this feeling just now? He had felt such a cold instinct take over him before, he just couldn't remember where...Every inch of his body was telling him to run for the hills, and run fast.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice echoed from behind him. "Find anything yet?"

He turned around after catching his breath and glared at the figure behind him. "Geez, Tantei-kun, a little warning next time?"

"Sorry," Shinichi said, though Kaito could see from his face that he was more amused than apologetic. "So...did you find them yet?"

Kaito sighed in exasperation. "No, but it's not as simple a task as you think it is. Information… Especially secrets like this, wouldn't be just left out in the open for just anyone to find. It's got to be hidden here somewhere." He glared, irritated, at the notes spread across the floor. There was tons of magic show related memorabilia scattered about, mixed with blueprints and details for various designs, but nothing resembling notes on kitsune based magic.

"You're father was pretty thorough at what he did. There has to be notes for every kind of trick you can imagine here. I can kind of see where you get it from." Shinichi stated plainly, pointing at the various scattered documents.

"That's my Oyajii for you," Kaito murmured with a sparkle in his eye. "He was the best of the best. Though, I really do wish he would have organized this stuff a bit better." Kaito grumbled.

"I can't say my dad's much better," stated Shinichi, catching Kaito a bit off guard. "He keeps most of his files on a computer database for a reason. You should really see our library back home."

Kaito chuckled at this. "The great author Yusaku Kudo is an unorganized slob? That's a bit of a surprise to hear. That explains why he's always on the run from his editors."

Shinichi rolled his eyes at the comment. "Actually, I'm pretty sure there's a different reason for that, but that's besides the point. Any idea where these notes are supposed to be? I could help you look for them, you know."

Kaito shook his head. "If I knew that we probably would have already found them…" he sighed, before he was interrupted by a buzzing from his phone. He glanced at it and immediately frowned.

"What is it?" Shinichi said craning his neck to try and get a look at the screen.

Kaito pressed a couple of buttons, swiftly hiding his phone away from prying eyes. "We need to get out of here."

Shinichi stared at him, confused. "Why? What's going on? Who was that?"

Kaito shook his head and quickly began shoving things into a backpack. He would have to keep searching for the notes later. He kept silent, his senses on high alert. Of course _he_ would have to pick just this time to return. Just perfect.

Shinichi forced himself in front of the not-so-teenage magician, who was avoiding looking at anything other than the bag he was packing.. "Kaito?"

Kaito ignored him and continued to pack things, throwing in the essentials into his endless pockets. His thoughts were preoccupied with escape plans upon escape plans, and he could feel the adrenaline growing by the minute. Ever since changing forms, his "flight" response had grown stronger.

A sharp burst of of pain, and he curled in on himself, his animal instincts taking over. He could feel himself transforming back into his 'natural' form despite how hard he tried to resist it. He heard Shinichi calling his name, but was unable to say anything as slowly, he regressed back into a fox.

"Kaito!" He heard Shinichi's small voice again, and he let out a whimper, collapsing on the floor.

When he came back to himself, he found himself swimming in his childish clothes again, panting. Slowly, however, he was gently pulled from his clothes and wrapped in tiny arms. "Geez, you idiot! You nearly gave me a heart attack…" Kaito looked up into Shinichi's concerned eyes. While they were in his house, he had left the ridiculous glasses off and he could see the brilliant blue orbs quite clearly.

" _Sorry…"_ Kaito managed, though his head was spinning from pain by this point.

Shinichi sighed and began to stroke Kaito's fur. To his surprise Kaito found himself relaxing somewhat under his touch. "Just relax for a minute. Whatever you're worrying about, it doesn't matter if we leave right now. We have time. Alright?"

There was a somewhat soothing quality in Shinichi's young voice, and Kaito was unsure if he realized that there seemed to be some sort of magical quality to it as well. He could feel himself slowly relaxing even further as Shinichi continued to stroke him; his instincts to run settling themselves into calm peace.

Finally, he closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was back to his child form with no pain whatsoever this time. Kaito sighed, sitting up. "Thanks...Honestly, I don't know what came over me there."

Shinichi paused a moment, looking contemplative. "If I had to guess...your animal instincts took over and triggered a fight or flight response." Kaito took note that Shinichi failed to mention what had brought about said response. Though, he did see Shinichi looking at him curiously obviously still wanting to know about that.

Sighing he slipped back into his clothes and took out his phone. He saw that he had a text message from Aoko as well as the video feed he had seen earlier on from his spy dove, showing her and Hakuba alone together. _"Hakuba-kun's been asking about you."_ The message read. This time, Kaito did his best to fall back on his poker face.

He quickly sent back a message, grateful that the detective in the room had decided to back off. _"Ugh, DO NOT let him bother you. I'll be sure to take care of him later. I'm a bit busy atm. Will talk later."_ He hit "send" and waited a moment for a response, eyeing Shinichi who was busying himself with looking around where he had stored the shield.

It didn't take long before his phone pinged again with a reply. _"Bakaito! Don't be rude. He was just concerned about you, after all!"_ Kaito snorted at this, but kept reading. _"I'm a bit worried about you, too. You left rather suddenly. Are you sure everything's alright? I know you said your mom surprised you, but it was still a little odd..."_

Kaito paused at this, unsure how to react. Aoko was worried about him?He texted her back quickly, while Shinichi fiddled around with something in the background. _"I'm doing just fine."_ Lies. _"It really was out of the blue, but I'm already getting to spend time with some interesting people from the past."_ Half-truths. _"I really need to be going...I'll call you soon, ok?"_ Empty promises. _"Ja ne!"_ Painful goodbyes that left his heart feeling empty.

There was a solitary ping as her reply came back. " _Come back soon, you got it?"_ He felt like replying with his usual cheek, but decided against it in the end.

Just then, there was a creaking noise that made his ears twitch, followed by the sound of gears turning. Kaito whirred around to see Shinichi holding the shield with a surprised look on his face, staring at a slowly opening trap door in the side of the wall. Huh… he'd never seen that one before. It was small, about the size of a bread box, but he could see with his enhanced vision something inside.

Moving swiftly over towards Shinichi, he reached in and pulled out the contents. His eyes widened "This...this is...!" He ran his finger over the fine leather edging and read the title to himself in disbelief. "Toichi Kuroba's Journal."

They'd found it… or more specifically Shinichi had found it. Kaito would have pouted in most situations at the universe's insinuation that the detective was somehow cleverer than him, but right now he was too wrapped up in the realisation that he was holding the most sacred treasure he had ever held. "This is it!" he cried in excitement.

He smiled his most genuine, brightest smile before grabbing Shinichi up in as big a hug as he could muster given his current small stature. Finally, they had a place to begin! And none too soon as it turned out; Kaito's phone pinged with another alert from his spy dove. It seemed Hakuba was on the move again.

Releasing Shinichi from his death hug, he continued to grin at him. "Well, Tantei-kun, we should be going. Time is of the essence, as they say. I have a quick phone call to make first, but in the meantime… Thank you. Thank you so much." Poker face be damned, he could feel his cheeks alight with warmth. Finally, real progress! With these he could better figure out his current "problem" at least that's what he assumed. Even without that however this was a piece of his father's past he had yet to uncover. A true treasure indeed.

"You're welcome. I just did what I thought you'd do in a situation like this," Shinichi stated evenly, though Kaito could see his cheeks coloring as well.

Kaito shook his head. "Au contraire, my dear detective. I believe you just found a solution using that deductive brain of yours. Much as I hate to admit, it probably would have taken me some time to find the same solution.

Kaito danced around the room, his tail swishing back and forth excitedly as hugged the book to his chest. Then he remembered he still had to give Hakuba a call to chew him out before he and Shinichi left for new hiding places. "I'll be back, Shinichi, just let me make a quick phone call." he paused as he went over into a quiet dark corner where he could talk to Hakuba without interference.

"Time to make sure a certain Brit keeps his big nose where it belongs," he mumbled slightly evilly to himself, and quickly dialed his number.

~^.v.^~

Saguru had just finished visiting the scene of the heist. Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly, there was little new information there. What he did manage to find was a trail that lead him to a nearby building where he projected KID had landed at some point after the heist in his haste to escape.

What's more, he found a rather sizable amount of that magic that had been attached to the letter, confirming what he had already suspected: KID's magic was released here. It lingered even now, though identifying it was an entirely different matter.

Saguru paused, contemplating the energy once more. It was blurred...like some sort of weird ripple. Probably illusory magic, if he had to guess. It would make the most sense given the user. He had long suspected that KID's tricks weren't entirely human in nature. There was something… too perfect about them.

Saguru found himself questioning why this magic had taken so long to appear though. As far as he recalled from previous heists, it was never quite...this strong. As if something had been released here. Something different than what he had encountered before. It just made no sense.

Before he could think too hard on it's significance, his phone began to buzz with an irritating song. He'd recognize that sugary sweet obnoxious ringtone anywhere. "Kuroba."

He grinned despite himself, and picked up the phone. "Hello Kuroba-kun. Enjoying your time away?" He revelled at the growl he managed to elicit from the other end of the line, though there was something strange about it. It _almost_ sounded like an animal's growl.

"Hakuba-kun! What _exactly_ do you think you're doing pestering Aoko, you jerk! I swear, I'm gone for just a couple of days and suddenly the whole world implodes! Can't you think of anything better to do than throw around suspicions while I'm gone?" The angry voice of Kuroba barked at him from the other end of the line.

"I see Aoko's been talking to you about me behind my back. I'm unsure if I should be flattered or insulted." Saguru's voice was smooth as silk, though there was something slightly intimidating about the way Kaito was speaking. He felt as though he was cornered by some sort of wild dog. An odd sensation...but he brushed it off.

"You would take it that way…" Kuroba growled again. "Stay away from Aoko. Got it? Now, I've got to get back to enjoying my time on vacation _far away_ from pesky detectives. I won't be in contact range for a while so _don't_ try. Though if I hear you've been bothering Aoko again, you can expect me to find a way to get back a heck of a lot sooner, and there will be repercussions, understand?" Saguru rolled his eyes at the overprotective reaction of his classmate, though he respected the seriousness in Kaito's voice.

He thought quickly on some of the prank's Kaito was known to pull on people who pissed him off. He shuttered a bit. Truth be told, he didn't want to be on the end of one of the magician's nastier pranks. "Understood," was all he replied. He gritted his teeth and grinned.

Well he hadn't brought _that_ up yet.

"Oh, and Hakuba-kun..." Perhaps he spoke too soon, he was sure he knew what Kaito was going to say next. Sure enough… "I'M NOT KID! So you can stop your silly investigating and focus on more important matters like I don't know… Almost anything else? Your obsession is kind of ridiculous. Seriously. Get a hobby."

With that, he heard a distinctive click as Kaito hung up on him. Saguru sighed to himself placing his phone in his pocket before he heard a distinct *ping* and a text message went through. In it was a picture of Kaito in a pair of swim trunks on a beach somewhere in what looked like America, California, or Hawaii, if he had to venture a guess. Of course photos could be modified, but that was beside the point.

There was also a message that read; " _If you find yourself tempted to track my location, go right ahead, but we both know that won't work out in your favor. Aloha! and good riddance from Hawaii."_

Letting out another sigh, he put his phone back into his pocket. Honestly. Even from afar, Kuroba was impossible to deal with without egging him on. He decided to put off his investigation on Kuroba's whereabouts until later. It was unlikely he was still home now, at the very least.

He decided instead to look into this other strange investigation. There was one other lead he had in regards to the magical phenomena, and he knew just whom he had to see about it.

Leaving the trace remains of the magic behind, he treaded off in the direction of Akako's home he knew lay on the outskirts of town. At the same time,, the two magical presences in question took off in a very different direction.

 _ **Woo that was a monster of a chapter (Just under 6,000 words) I hope you all enjoyed. If you have any comments/concerns want to let us know what you think please leave a review.**_

 _ **BONUS Omake: A little extra that the lovely Lizzy brought up:**_

 _Shinichi paused a moment, looking contemplative. "If I had to guess...your animal instincts took over and triggered a fight or flight response."_

 _Kaito gave him a skeptical look. Really? That was the best explanation the detective could come up with? "Well, no s***, Sherlock! Tell me something I don't know."_

 _Shinichi puffed up his chest and stuck out his tongue at Kaito."You mean like how to tell a good joke?"_

 _Kaito gasped. "I'll have you know I'm the funniest character on this show!"_

 _Shinichi smirked. "So you admit you're the comic relief, then."_

 _The thief clutched his heart. "You wound me, Tantei-kun!"_

 _Shinichi rolled his eyes even as the curtain fell before him._

 _ **Bonus Bonus Omake! ~^.v.^~**_

 _Conan: *ads appear on screen*"Meitantei conan to koran no sponsors no teikyo desu, opurishimasta!"_

 _Kid:*bows*"See you, next illusion!"_

 _Both: *glare at each other in recording room*"Oi! This is my show!"_

 _*Screen goes black*(scuffles and breaking sounds)_


	8. Questions and Transitions

**A/N:** _ **Mist here~ Hello all! Thank you so much for sticking with this story all this time, it is great reading your lovely reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much as all the rest~**_

 _ **Thanks to the lovely LadyShadow26 and BloodiedCoreofHope for all their help with this chapter! I enjoy working with them so much. *^-^***_

 _ **Also, please make sure to check out our Pokemon crossover fic for Detective Conan and, well, Pokemon! Its in the crossover section and on LadyS' profile! Its called "**_ _ **Its Not Always Black and White**_ _ **".**_

 _ **Well, that's all! Please enjoy the chapter~**_

 _ **AN2: LadyS bringing you another chapter written almost entirely by the lovely Mist :) We had some struggles with this one as it's a bit of transitional chapter moving into a brand new arc for this story that I won't spoil just yet.**_

 _ **Just know that you can't have Detective Conan without a bit of...excitement. ;)**_

 _ **As always standard disclaimer we do not own these characters. With of course the exception of our dear Draven who is quickly becoming our favorite character XD All else belong to Gosho. Please support his official work!**_

 _ **As Mist said please enjoy!~**_

~^.V.^~

Conan was busying himself with trying to shove various miscellaneous necessities into the pockets of several clothes while Kaito, on the other hand, was slowly trying to persuade himself to read his father's journal. He had spent the past hour just staring at the cover, occasionally putting his finger under it to lift it up, then taking it away with a dejected, nervous look on his face.

Conan couldn't read his thoughts at the moment. Though, he had tried out of curiosity on a couple of occasions. He could still sense Kaito's feelings, and, from that he gathered, that Kaito was unsure. This journal could potentially change his perception of his father, and the world he currently knew.

Kaito had laid out all the items Conan needed to pack beforehand on his work table, naming where something Conan thought they might need at some point was, if the shrunken detective asked. Conan picked up a lighter from the organised pile, then gave the pair of pants he was filling a careful once over. He performed a thorough search yet again, to see if he could find an empty pocket, but it seemed all of them had been filled to the brim at this point.

"Hey Kaito... Is there another place I can pack things? I think I've filled all the clothes we're taking and the backpacks too." Conan inquired, turning around and walking over to where the magician was sitting.

Kaito took a moment to realise he was being addressed, drawing his eyes off the journal to give Conan a blank look. "Oh... Did you already fill the knapsack pockets?"

"Yeah, I just said that I filled those."

"No, the hidden ones. Did you fill the hidden ones?" Kaito said this as if it were obvious that the backpacks would have hidden pockets, perhaps because _everything_ here had hidden pockets.

Conan gave a sigh in response, shrugging in acceptance. "No… I'll go search for those hidden pockets now."

Lifting one of the two knapsacks off the ground and putting it on the table, Conan began patting the bag down, pulling at places that looked as if they might hold a secret compartment.

It wasn't much longer before Conan finally finished packing everything. He put the knapsack on the ground, satisfied, and turned back to Kaito with a smile. "Alright! I got everything together. You about ready to head out?"

Kaito gave a soft humm, not reacting in any other noticeable way. Conan gave an impatient huff, pulling himself up to sit on the table, looking at Kaito. His gaze grew fond as he watched the careful way Kaito read his father's journal, the rush of emotion and awe flying across his face. Conan noticed he was still on the first page, probably having had read it over and over until every word was ingrained in his mind, much the same as the way that Conan himself would act with a new mystery novel.

Conan just watched him with a curious expression on his face, legs swinging idly from his position on top of the table. They weren't in any rush to leave, after all.

Kaito slowly flipped to the next page, eyes wide as moons. He tilted his head a bit, eyeing the words curiously. Conan blinked, watching with surprise as Kaito's ears and tail started to rapidly twitch. All of a sudden, his ears collapsed in on themselves, vanishing into Kaito's hair. The magician's tail followed, soon disappearing out of sight.

Conan opened his mouth, brow raising in a bit of confusion. "Guess you found something in there to hide your… kitsuneness?"

Kaito jumped, startled at Conan's voice, his ears and tail popping right back out again as he whipped his head towards Conan. He then gave a sheepish laugh, snapping out of his trance, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Heh, yeah… It's a bit hard to keep up though. I'll probably still use basic disguise to hide them for the beginning of our little trip." Kaito closed the journal, standing up and trotting over to Conan.

"Wait here a sec while I go do that."

After putting the journal in his own knapsack, Kaito disappeared into the closet, closing the doors behind him as he went inside. A moment later, he came out wearing a pair of khaki pants, light jacket, hiking boots, and baseball cap. His ears and tail were hidden well out of sight, and he wore a bright, charming smile on his face. "Your turn! There's a pair of similar clothes in there for you. Much better than what you're wearing right now."

Conan crossed his arms huffily, jumping down from the table. "The clothes I'm wearing right now are perfectly fine, thank you."

"No, they're bright yellow and not that safe for where we're going. You'll stand out like a sore thumb in the wilderness."

"Well, I think they're fine. I've been out in the woods in clothes such as these and survived."

"Well, we're going to be going into the _mountains_. You might at least want something different than shorts on for warmth if nothing else," Kaito pointed out, cocking his eyebrow.

Conan rewarded him with a light glare, but headed into the closet. "Says the guy who dresses up like some sort of over dramatic caped super villain," he muttered, closing the doors behind him. It really was pointless to try and argue with Kaito when he was insistent on something…

"Hey! My Kid outfit is classic, and you know it!" Kaito cried out indignantly, making sure his voice was loud enough that Conan could hear him through the closet doors.

"Sure, you just keep telling yourself that," Conan said, only just loud enough for Kaito to catch with his enhanced hearing.

A moment later, and Conan was out of the closet, wearing the clothes Kaito had set out for him, nearly identical to Kaito's own exempting the color of them. His had shades of blue coloration instead of Kaito's simple monochrome choices. He had went ahead and thrown on the hiking boots as well, tossing his special kick-enhancing shoes to Kaito so he could put them in a pocket somewhere. Conan was officially done with shoving things in hidden compartments.

"Okay! Let's head out, then!" Kaito sang happily, grabbing Conan's hand, and proceeding to tug him out the trap door that led to the outside world. Conan grabbed his knapsack off the floor as he was pulled along, slinging it over his back. He almost collapsed under its weight as he did so, but barely managed to trudge on after Kaito.

~^.V.^~

Hakuba stood at Akako's door, tapping his toe impatiently and gazing at his pocketwatch. He watched the second hand tick at a steady pace, circling calmly and methodically around the face of the clock before the door was opened.

"Akako-san," He greeted coolly, gently tucking his pocketwatch back into the pant pocket of his lovely custom tailored "detective clothes". He had managed to change right after leaving school. One must always be prepared for detective work, from your clothing to the state of your mind and body.

He felt a slight blush grow on his cheeks at the sight of Akako's beauty, but, knowing as he did, that it was only her magic, he forced down the warm, fuzzy feeling that was traitorously growing in his chest.

Akako gazed at him, a slight bit of pride passing through her gaze at noticing the blush on his face. "Hakuba-kun. To what might I owe the... Pleasure?" Her voice was icy and unwelcoming despite the earlier flicker of pride, her gaze boring into Hakuba's very soul.

"May I come in? We could talk more properly inside away from the elements." From all the information Hakuba had gathered about Akako, he imagined she already knew why he was here.

"Ah, but wouldn't it work just as well to talk out here? Obviously, no one's going to pass by." Akako gestured to the empty wasteland that was her yard, a chilling, omniscient smile creeping across her face. Hakuba resisted the urge to tremble, tingles slithering up his spine as if millions of spiders were crawling along his back.

"It looks as though it might rain, and I'd rather avoid standing outside when it comes pounding down." Hakuba replied casually.

Akako looked to the sky, eyes narrowing at the swirling grey clouds covering it, a ripple of thunder sounding in the distance as if on cue.

"I guess there's no choice, then. Come in," Akako's voice was filled with venom at being outmanoeuvred, but she opened the door none the less, leading Hakuba inside.

The blond detective was immediately greeted by the glowing red eyes of a pitch black crow, cawing loudly at him in what seemed to be displeasure. Hakuba tilted his head, taking note of the magic signature coming from the creature- immensely similar to Akako's. This must be her familiar.

"What's this one's name?" Hakuba asked curiously, giving the crow a careful look.

"That's Draven, a very special companion of mine. I'd recommend not approaching him. If you don't want to become minced meat, that is." The crow cawed as if agreeing with Akako's words, though there was some tone of disagreement to them. Hakuba tilted his head a bit, curious about what sort of magic this crow had.

"No dallying, Hakuba-kun, or I _will_ just feed you to Draven." Hakuba started a little, noticing that while he had been studying the crow, Akako had moved on ahead of him in the corridor.

Hakuba drew his eyes off the bird, knowing full well that Akako might not be kidding about feeding him to her familiar. He kicked up his pace a little to follow her, noticing that she was heading up the stairs. The magic signature he had been sensing earlier was coming strongly from there; the owners must have spent a fair amount of time in there.

They soon entered a room that was decorated far more simply than the rest of the household. Hakuba padded over to the couch, where the strongest traces of the magic energy he had sensed came from. Hakuba put his hand toward it, tilting his head. There were two different magic traces, for sure, and while the signatures seemed to be polar opposites, there was something much too similar about the two traces. That led him to the same conclusion he had about Akako and Draven. These two magic signatures had to belong to a familiar and master.

The only question was; was Kuroba the master, or the familiar, and who, or rather what, was he paired up with? What Akako had said in school earlier flashed across his mind, but he chased it away. There was no way that Edogawa child had paired up with KID… Not a detective and a thief. No matter how young said detective was.

"Are you going to actually sit down, or did you come here to stare indulgently at my couch for the rest of your time here?" Akako asked Hakuba impatiently, snapping him from his trance.

He turned to the witch, giving a chilled smile. "I'll sit, thank you."

"So, why are you here?" Akako acted almost as if she were accusing him of something, sitting back calmly in her chair, gazing at Hakuba with hard eyes.

"I have a few questions that need answering," Hakuba answered simply, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"I can't promise I'll give you any answers, and if I do, they may not be ones you're looking for." Draven suddenly fluttered into the room at her words, giving an indignant caw. Akako whispered something to the bird, looking a bit frustrated, to which the bird cocked its head and gave another cry.

"I'm… aware." Hakuba said slowly, making sure the conversation between the familiar and master was done.

"I do have one condition." Akako spoke up, and Hakuba nodded, eyeing her warily. "For every question that you ask, I get to ask one in turn. Understood?"

"I also can't promise that I'll give answers to your questions either, but it's a deal."

Akako indicated with an elegant wave of her hand that he should start.

"What do you know about Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba dived right in, knowing fully well that there was no going back. It was the thing he was most curious about, and he hoped to get at least a semi-straight answer from the teenage witch.

"Quite a bit, actually." Akako said, examining her nails. This was all a game. A game of chance that Hakuba himself had set up; to see who would crack first and give answers to the other in hopes that they would get the response they wanted. It was a shot in the dark, but Hakuba felt he had a chance this way. Otherwise, it would be more like shooting at a non-existent target.

"My turn~," Akako then purred, turning her eyes away from her nails and back towards Hakuba. "What is your involvement with the magical world?" 

"Ah, nothing big." Hakuba gave her a knowing stare, noticing that her foot was starting to tap a bit. This was a game of patience, and he knew full well that Akako lacked that when it came to things such as getting ahold of information that she wanted.

"When did Kuroba-kun stop by here?" Hakuba questioned, after a moments pause to let the tension build.

"A couple of days ago, but I'm afraid he may have already left." Perfect! Hakuba had gotten as straight an answer as he could have ever hoped for. Now, time to reward Akako with a straight answer of his own. As straight as he could depending on the question.

"What are your intentions regarding Kuroba-kun?"

"Well…" Hakuba paused. What were his plans once he finally reached Kuroba, and got the answers he wanted? He hadn't exactly thought this far ahead. Akako wouldn't like it if he said he wanted to use this information to put Kuroba behind bars, either. "I want to track him, and quench my own curiosity on this ordeal." Best answer he could come up with. Without promising something that he wouldn't keep, anyway.

"Ah." Akako still held quite a good deal suspicion in her gaze, but she was starting to ease a bit. He was making progress.

"Can you tell me about Kuroba-kun's powers?"

"Well, it involves illusionary magic, which I presume you've already guessed," Akako stated, going back to examining her nails looking bored. "What on your powers?"

"They're fairly basic, but good enough for what I use them for," Hakuba replied vaguely, crossing one of his legs over the other. He noticed Akako twitch in what seemed to be annoyance. He was definitely winning this match, so far.

"What were you talking talking about earlier at school? I believe you mentioned how Edogawa-kun might be teamed up with Kid…?"

Suddenly Akako cackled, and Draven gave a loud disgruntled caw, fluttering its wings unhappily on her shoulder. "He _is_ teamed up with Kid, there is no "might" she was suddenly interrupted by Draven letting out a very annoyed cry, flapping down to her lap. The bird looked into her eyes, then let out a softer noise, the sound resembling a sad kitten's mewl.

"Yes, I know, but who cares if Hakuba knows about that fool?"

Draven made another soft sound, working its feet on Akako's legs.

"No, Kuroba-kun's the only one I'm trying to protect," Akako huffed, glaring at her familiar.

Draven just gave her a concerned look this time, before cawing once disappointedly, and fluttering over to one of the rafters. It looked like he was leaving the decision up to Akako.

"He is probably slowly becoming the closest person to Kid, it's a process, you know," Akako explained vaguely, taking a more relaxed position. "I'm guessing you've already figured out that Kuroba-kun has a magical friend, and who that magic-user is in relationship to him?"

"Yes, indeed I have. Master and familiar?" Their questions were starting to develop into a smooth conversation, Hakuba noted. "So, are you saying that Edogawa child is Kaito's familiar?" Hakuba asked incredulously, raising his brow. He hadn't quite expected that.

"Close, but not quite. Turn your thinking around…" Akako hinted, falling into expectant, smug silence.

Hakuba moved his mouth like a fish, processing this. "Kuroba-kun… is Edogawa-kun's familiar?" This was next to impossible in Hakuba's mind. They were on opposite sides of the law, had a wide age gap, and from what he knew, had _very_ different personalities.

Akako just gave a slightly pleased sounding hum, which Hakuba took as a yes. Well, they say opposites attract? It was a bit hard for him to swallow. It was rare for a human, even a magical one, to become a familiar. Unless, of course, Kaito wasn't exactly human…? Could he actually be a magical creature of some sort? Hakuba gave an inward snort of disbelief at that. Kuroba hadn't even seemed to know he had powers. It was unlikely he was that ignorant.

"Satisfied?" Akako stood, hands falling to her hips. "If so, then would you leave?"

"I… Yeah, sure." Hakuba shrugged. At least he had gotten something. Now he had at least an idea of what to look for and expect when he went to track the duo down.

"Oh, before you go, though..." Hakuba could _feel_ Akakos seductive magic pulling on him again holding him tightly under its alluring grip. "Could you answer my earlier question as to what your involvement with the magical world is?"

Hakuba paused, gazing at her. The look in her eyes sent a chill up his spine. He had a strange feeling that he wouldn't be able to leave at all if he didn't answer this… He did kind of owe it to her. "Alright, I'm a hunter. That good enough for you?"

"Ah, I see. Very well...You may leave now. I will warn you now, though, do _not_ mess with Kuroba-kun. He's mine, hunter. And there is no way in Hell that I'll even _think_ of allowing him to become your prey." With that, Akako snapped her fingers, and Draven flew down from the rafters, transforming mid flight into a large, pitch black wolf. It gave him a sharp look through its bright red eyes, then proceeded to pad forward, out of the room.

Hakuba followed, glancing back at Akako, noticing her go over to a bookshelf that was placed in the room, removing a book from it. It read; "Familiar Magic: Theories, Conclusions, and Falsities".

Hakuba snorted, shaking his head. She was one persistent witch. Alhough when he thought about it, he was a pretty stubborn person himself. It was in the job description, after all.

~^.V.^~

Draven flew back up to Akako, thoughts filled with this Hakuba person. He was an interesting human, and the fact that he was a hunter could prove to be dangerous to his mistress. Therefore, Draven wasn't exactly _agreeing_ with his master's choice to tell him about the two magic-users. He hadn't had much say in it, though. At least he had tried to have his voice heard. Akako was a determined person, and sometimes made choices that not even he, as her familiar, understood.

He shifted to a barn owl as he neared his master, briefly taking in the way his bones shifted underneath his skin. It had never been a painful process, though it was a bit uncomfortable when he had first tried it.

He flapped his wings elegantly, enjoying the feel of the long black feathers that allowed him to swoop silently towards prey and perches alike. He landed on the bookshelf where Akako was still reading that book on familiars, and cocked his head.

"You know if I didn't know any better I'd swear you're trying to replace me, Akako-sama~" He drawled, leaning down towards her. In truth, he really did like Kaito and Shinichi. They were intriguing, and he felt a strange sense of protectiveness towards them. Shinichi for his powerful intellect, and Kaito for the kinship they indirectly shared. They were incredibly inexperienced with magic, but they had great potential.

"That could be," the witch replied absentmindedly, flipping a page in the book. Draven let out a slow hoot of mock indignation, drawing Akako's gaze out of her book.

"You're too cruel." Draven fluttered onto Akako's shoulder, grooming her hair between his beak affectionately.

Akako reached up to stroke his feathers, still distracted by the book. Draven didn't really mind. She often got distracted by other things, and he was just glad that she took time to pay any attention to him. He knew some familiars were just treated as servants by their masters, never to be thought of as anything even resembling a friend. It didn't happen often any more these days, but he knew that there were still some cases of it.

"Draven," Akako said in a commanding voice, closing the book. "I want you to go follow Kuroba-kun and his master. Do what you must to keep them out of Hakuba's grasp… Or anyone else's, for that matter."

Draven nodded, shifting into a peregrine falcon easily. "I was wondering when you would command that. I'll be off, then."

"I trust you to find them before Hakuba does. And, be careful."

"I will do everything in my power to carry out your commands, Akako-sama." Draven flapped his now faster wings, lifting off of Akako's shoulder. He zipped out the door, flying through an open window and into the bright blue sky. It felt so nice to go outside and explore the world. It had been a while since he'd last gotten out from Ekoda.

After taking in the fresh, seasonal air with a breath, Draven made his way to the house he had visited a couple of days ago. He presumed they had left from there, so it would be easier to track their magic traces this way. He might not be as good at it as Hakuba seemed to be, but he could also track them using scent as well, given his enhanced senses provided by his shapeshifting ability.

~^.V.^~

The train thundered along the tracks, making its way to the Nagano stop. They had rode most of the train ride in silence, each taking turns getting a little sleep. They made small talk every now and then, wondering about their destination and giving small ideas as to where they were going to go.

Conan took a glance outside the window, noting the scenery. Japan was truly a beautiful country. He sighed as memories of all his travels came flooding back to him. "This reminds me of all the times I used to travel with my parents when I was little…"

"You are little," Kaito grumbled, still half asleep from a nap he had been taking.

Conan glowered, prodding Kaito's arm in indignation. That little phantom thief… "Hey, I was actually trying to hold a serious conversation."

Kaito blinked his previously closed eyes open, and looked over at Conan. He was slouched in his chair, arms crossed over his stomach. The perfect picture of relaxation.

"Really. You're so insensitive." Conan prodded Kaito again, frown deepening.

"And you're whiny," Kaito retorted playfully, sitting up straight as he began to become more and more awake. He shook his head, and stretched like a dog, as if to rid himself of the tiredness through the vicious movement.

"Humph. Fine, then I won't tell you about my childhood." Conan turned around in his seat with a huff, opening a single eye to peek back at Kaito.

"Alright! I give in! Just tell me about your childhood!" Kaito sounded a bit exasperated, though mostly as if he were playing a game of words with Conan, enjoying it all the while.

"You already ruined the moment. Too bad," Conan said curtly, sticking his tongue out at Kaito. However, he did turn to face Kaito, eyes bright and teasing.

"Aww, come on… I was looking forward to hearing your tales of glory. Who knows they might put me to sleep faster." Kaito gave him a cheeky grin.

Conan huffed and sighed. "Well excuse me...Not all of us can be world famous artists performing impossible stunts in front of hundreds of crazy fangirls." He paused, gauging Kaito's reaction to that. He was rewarded only with more silence, Kaito staring past him.

Conan shuffled uncomfortably. Seemed like he had hit one of Kaito's nerves. Dang it, he had really meant it all in good fun. Well, he had expected the conversation to die down eventually. He just wished it hadn't been so sudden...

"Quite a bit has happened since your heist, hasn't it? It's worn us both out," Conan commented quietly, setting a more serious tone.

"Yeah, that much is true…" Kaito murmured tiredly, letting his eyes droop.

Conan watched as he slumped in his chair once more. He'd just let the conversation drop. Kaito was obviously tired, and it was hard to keep up an exchange when you were half asleep.

~^.V.^~

It wasn't long before the train pulled to a stop, and the doors opened to let passengers in. However, only a couple people made it onto the train before there was a scream.

Conan jumped in his seat, fully expecting someone to have suddenly dropped dead. He had that effect on people.

He quickly hopped out of his chair, going to make his way to the door. However, he skidded to a halt when a small, black peregrine falcon flapped into the train, landing on the side of a chair, turning its head from side to side.

Conan blinked at it. No… It couldn't be, could it? 

"Draven?!" Conan then exclaimed in shock, covering his mouth when he noticed he was getting some odd looks from people. "Is that a raven?" He gave a bit of a nervous laugh, watching as people shrugged, easily accepting his change of words. Conan then looked around, trying to find something he could do.

That was when Kaito walked over, having been woken by the scream. He winked at Conan, then gave Draven a look. Suddenly, causing a few people on the train to give a small jump, he yelled out. "ITS A RAVEN! I'm gonna catch it before you can~" He gave Conan a playful shove, then proceeded to run at Draven, who fluttered into the air in shock.

Conan joined in full-heartedly, screaming at poor, confused Draven.

They raced through a few carriages before they found an empty one, causing people to start and give them odd looks as they ran through the carriages, chasing the small "raven". Once they reached it, Kaito quietly called to Draven; "Hurry, before people come in here! Get in my pocket!"

Draven gave him a confused look, then nodded, sensing the urgency of the situation. He quickly shifted into a small field mouse, dropping to the floor. He then scrambled up Kaito's pants, and into his pocket. Just in time, too.

At that moment, a few people from the various carriages came into the empty cart. "Hey, are you two alright?" A tall, blond woman with an American accent questioned, looking at them worriedly.

"Yeah, we're fine. A raven entered our car, so we tried to catch it. It flew out the window, though…" Kaito gave a pout, pointing at the open window across from them, which Conan had gone to open during the confusion.

"Oh, I see." She smiled, backing out of the doorway, relaying what had happened to all the people who had gathered either in awe or worry.

Conan sighed, closing his eyes. "That was a close one…"

Kaito nodded, looking even more exhausted than before, all signs of earlier childish acting gone. "Yep. I say we go give this demon a good talking to."

Soon, they were in the bathroom.

"Draven, what the heck are you doing here? And what in the world were you thinking?!" Conan snapped, earning a glare from the demon familiar.

"I came to help you, on Akako-sama's request and my own will." Draven said as if he were doing them a favor, and causing Conan to glower at him before realizing something. Draven had just spoken, and he had understood the small mouse's words. He stumbled back a step.

"You… can talk?" Conan asked incredulously, brow twitching. Kaito gave him an odd look, and Conan just shook his head, not having the energy to explain anything at the moment.

"I'm speaking my own language, Edogawa child. You can just understand it. It is your magic's doing, obviously," Draven stated smoothly, in a voice that didn't seem to fit his current form in the least. As if realizing this, Draven quickly shifted from a mouse to a small snake, coiling up on the bathroom floor.

"Oh." That was when Conan realized he wasn't speaking any human language he knew of. In fact, every single word he spoke sounded as if he were speaking in Draven's language.

"'Oh' indeed. Now, are we going to move out of this bathroom, or shall we just stay in here the rest of the way to Ishikawa? I presume that's where you're heading."

"Uh, no… I guess not." Conan blinked. Geez, he had been planning to give Draven a stern talking to. Now all he could do was stammer pitiful half-answers,

"Good. Where would you like for me to hide?" Draven slithered towards Conan, red eyes frighteningly seeming to stare into his very soul.

"Would you mind hiding in my pocket?" Conan questioned unsurely, opening it up a little. From Kaito's upset expression, he could guess the magician was only going to give Draven furious words for hours if he let the demon stay with him. It wasn't really Draven's fault… he didn't know any better, right?

"I'd prefer not, but I guess I don't really have much of a choice," the demon purred, causing Conan's anger to bubble up at the sound of his smooth uncaring voice. He quickly pushed it down though. Now was not the time to get angry at Draven. They needed to keep things as calm as possible for now… but once they were in the forest and alone, Draven was never going to hear the end of it!

Conan lifted Draven into his pocket, sighing.

Kaito now just looked confused as to what had happened, all of his rage seemingly burning away into curiosity about what had just happened between Conan and Draven. He didn't ask, though, following Conan as he led the way back to their carriage.

"Well, we're only about ten minutes away from Ishikawa now," Kaito mused as they returned to their seats, a few people giving them curious looks. Kaito smiled and waved at them in response, to which they waved unsurely back, then shrugged, returning to their own business.

"Yeah, we're almost there." Conan smiled. He couldn't help but feel excited. There was something about the prospect of going out into the middle of nowhere, and working on magic that filled him with anticipation. Though, he really would miss home…

He had to wonder what Ran was doing. She must be missing him. Then there was Haibara and the Hakase. They were probably still incredibly suspicious with his earlier lie… he had kind of forgotten to back that up. Suddenly, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind. He felt as if he had forgotten something. But what?

The image of a certain Osakan detective flashed through his mind. Oh, right. Heiji. He had forgotten about Heiji. Heiji, who he just now remembered saying was coming to visit a week ago. And Conan had forgotten to tell him anything, not even an incredibly terrible lie about why he wasn't in Beika. Oops. Conan shrugged to himself. "Eh it's probably not that big of a deal…"

Kaito gave him an odd look. "What's not that big of a deal?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Conan waved Kaito off, giving the most convincing smile he could. Kaito just narrowed his eyes disbelievingly in reply.

They were both distracted from whatever thoughts they were having, however, as the train pulled into the station. A thrill of enthusiasm went up Conan's spine as the train's doors slid open. They were finally here; the Ishikawa prefecture.

~^.V.^~

 **A/N:** _ **That's all for this chapter! Tell me what you thought of it, whether good or bad! Reviews are the best~ :D**_

 _ **AN2: In answer to guests questions on the last chapter: I hope this chapter showed a bit of how Kaito/Shinichi are currently bluffing their way through childhood.**_

 _ **As to your other question:This story takes place some time after current MK canon. So yes Hakuba is more interested in discovering the truth behind Kaito as opposed to actually "hunting/capturing" him. Stay tuned for future updates where we explore more of their tense "friendship/rivalry"**_

 _ **Thanks again to all for reading! Until next chapter ;)~**_


	9. Home away from home

**A/N:** _ **This is Mist. Yeah. I'm really just tired. And stressed. So short note! Hope you all enjoy the chapter~ You guys' are the best readers ever. :D**_

 **A/N2: LS: So we come to another chapter after over a month's wait. I apologize for the long gap between posts guys… Life's been keeping both Mist and I busy. I've been working full time 40+ hours and Mist is in school so not much chance to collaborate. We will continue to try and produce content as we can just don't be surprised if it takes a little while. Again...sorry**

 **Hope yall enjoy this chapter. Please let us know your thoughts via review. There is some major magic in this chapter so things might be a tad confusing.**

 **As always we do not own these characters(With the exception of Draven whom is totally original in every way ;)) So please support the official work!**

 **All that said...ENJOY!**

~^.V.^~

Ran was sitting on the couch, doing a bit of homework while her father slept next to her, TV on and blaring at full volume. This had become their nightly routine after Conan had vanished, due to the fact that, with his absence, the rate she and her father encountered murders seemed to have dropped. It was odd, and actually managed to induce a little fear in Ran. What if Conan was cursed, or worse, haunted…? Ran chased that thought away quickly, with a swift shake of her head. She was just being superstitious, as usual. There was nothing to be afraid of... Right?

"Kud- I mean, Conan-kun? Ya here? Oi!" A loud, easily recognizable voice brought Ran out of her thought train, and she jerked in surprise. She got up from her seat and walked over to Heiji who had burst into the room without waiting to be greeted. Why, oh why, did they leave their door unlocked when they were home? They really should just lock it, especially with her father being a famous detective… She shook that thought from her head to stare at Heiji for a moment, confusion in her eyes, before remembering her manners and giving him a polite bow.

"Um, hello, Hattori-kun. What brings you out to Tokyo?"

Heiji continued to glance around before turning to Ran. "Oh, Ran-san. Sorry, I was just lookin' fer Ku-Conan-kun. I was in da neighborhood and ah… well I told Conan-kun last week I'd be stoppin' by. Didn't he tell ya?" He continued to look past her as if expecting Conan to pop up out of nowhere.

Ran shook her head, a bit confused. "No. I can't say he did…" Internally, she thought to herself: _That's strange... Conan's usually pretty excited about Hattori's visits… I'm surprised he didn't mention it to me. Although, given the fact he is visiting Shinichi right now… Maybe he was just distracted? Come to think of it...It's rather strange that Shinichi took him with him. Isn't he supposed to be on a case right now? Though, there is his parents' spontaneous reputation to consider..._

Heiji continued to glance about the room. "So where is that brat anyway? He off with those other kids somewhere?"

Ran was shaken from her thoughts. "Actually, he's not home right now. Shinichi called me the other day and said he was taking him on a trip somewhere, and by the sounds of it, they aren't going to back for a while."

Ran watched as Heiji's eyes widened. "Did ya just say Kudo called ya?"

Ran was taken aback by Heiji's reaction, though given how rare Shinichi's calls were nowadays, she supposed it wasn't too odd. "Yes. Just the other day. The morning after that KID heist, actually. Apparently, he was in the area because of it, and after meeting up with Conan, he decided he wanted to spend some family time together. He took Conan with him to visit his relatives in America." Ran carefully watched as Heiji's expressions seemed to shift as she retold him what she had heard over the phone. They were mostly unreadable, but seemed to be a mixture of confusion, surprise, and lastly and most curiously, a bit of concern.

Finally, Heiji settled on looking mildly intrigued. "Yer sure it was Kudo who called ya?" he asked, his voice showing a hint of something Ran couldn't quite put her finger on.

Ran nodded, blushing slightly as her voice wavered, but her expression was resolute. "Of course I'm sure! Here, look at the call log." She handed Heiji her phone.

Heiji fumbled with it slightly, glancing over the screen and pressing some buttons. "See...right there: 'Shinichi Kudo' 8:30, June 12," Ran pointed out, gazing over Heiji's shoulder.

Heiji quirked an eyebrow and stared at the phone screen for a long moment before handing it back to Ran. Suddenly, his expression brightened. "Well, guess that's that! I'll have ta give Kudo a call of my own, an' give him a-piece-o my mind." Heiji grumbled something else under his breath afterward, which sounded a lot like; "kidnappin' yerself...What da hell are ya thinkin', Kudo?"

Ran ignored this and shrugged softly. "Good luck. It's not easy to get a hold of him when he disappears like this. Though, if I find out he's been mistreating Conan-kun…" Ran took up a karate stance and punched the air besides Heiji's head firmly. "I'll make sure to drag him out of wherever he's hiding."

Heiji's eyes widened a bit and he gave a small flinch as he backed away, heading toward the door. "Right. Well, thanks fer the help, Ran-san. I guess I'll be seeing ya around."

Ran paused, tilting her head to the side. "Oh? It'd be such a waste if you came all this way for nothing. Sure you don't want to stay for dinner or something to drink, at least? Conan-kun might call if you wait around a bit."

Heiji stared at her blankly, tipping his head to the side a bit. Then, abruptly, his face lit up. He quickly took his phone from his pocket, tapping a few buttons and giving out a quiet curse.

"Dang it! I knew I felt my phone buzzin' away in my pocket. Appears Kudo gave me a call. Probably 'cause he just remembered that he should tell me, his best friend, about him takin' Conan outta Japan." Heiji frowned deeply, shaking his head.

Ran blinked, watching as Heiji put the phone up to his ear, noticing his toe starting to tap a bit.

"Kudo! How could ya not tell me, yer best buddy, about a development as important as ya takin' Conan-kun!" Heiji yelled into the phone, eyebrow twitching.

Ran listened, but didn't manage to catch anything of Shinichi's voice on the other end.

"Oh? Is that true? You want me in America with ya too? 'Cause yer stuck on a hard case, and ya miss me?"

Ran raised her brow at this, somehow doubting that Shinichi had directly said he was missing Heiji. But… he was making the phone call, and she didn't see any reason for Heiji to lie.

"Yer parents'll pay fer the ticket fer the plane ride!? Well, how can I deny that offer?" Heiji said, giving an oddly evil grin to the phone.

Ran frowned, feeling her muscles tense at those words. Shinichi was inviting Heiji to America? That idiot! If he was going to invite Heiji to America, and bring Conan there without notifying him, couldn't he just ask her to come over as well? Or kidnap her like he had with Conan...

Ran shook her head. As if that would ever happen. After all, Shinichi was just a jerk who could make offers to bring everybody but her to America with him… A jerk who she cared very deeply about. A jerk who she could almost say she loved.

"Alright, Kudo! I'll head right ta the airport!" With that, Heiji hung up and stuffed the phone in his pocket.

"Ya heard our conversation, I gotta go!" Heiji turned back to Ran, gaze flashing quickly toward the door.

Ran merely nodded, not sure exactly what else she could do. If this were a trick, she'd definitely fallen right into the trap, and there wasn't anything she could think to do to get out of it.

And before she could say anything more Heiji was out the door, presumably on his way to the airport, though Ran had the odd sense that wasn't really what was going on… People seemed to be hiding things from her. Then again, maybe they weren't and it was just all in her head.

"Huuuhhh? 'Ooo stopped by?" Her father mumbled from the couch, waking up from his nap just as the door slammed shut behind Heiji.

"Oh, uh, it was just Heiji. He came to see if Conan was here." Ran spoke truthfully, going back to where her homework laid on the table.

"Ehhhhh…" Her father moaned, sighing as he sunk lower into the couch, falling swiftly back to sleep.

Ran shook her head at her obviously hungover father, closing her eyes wearily. What the heck was Shinichi doing anyway? When he had taken Conan without asking, she had wondered whether he was was actually on a case of some sort. One that called for a young child to help him solve it or something strange like that. But now he had called Heiji in too! Didn't he know she missed him?

Ran chased the thought away, London flashing in her mind's eye. Of course he did. She had no real cause to worry. He would be back soon, he had a reason for all this nonsense. And if he didn't, she would give him a good kicking when he got back. With all the pain he put her through, he deserved it.

~^.v.^~

Shinichi looked carefully at the building in front of him, before being interrupted by a sudden sneeze. A small shiver ran up his spine right afterwards, and he rubbed his arms. There was a certain feeling of foreboding lingering over him… It felt as though someone was thinking dark thoughts about him. He quickly shook it off, remembering where he was.

They were out in the middle of nowhere, completely isolated from the outside world. It was unlikely anyone bad, or even good, would find them out here, which was part of the reason they had chosen this particular place. According to Kaito, it had been one of his dad's old "vacation" spots, though, it had been apparently rarely used. Funny enough, it had been mentioned in his father's journal as being one of the places where he practiced channeling his abilities.

It certainly didn't _look_ like a KID hiding spot from the outward appearance. The cabin itself looked plain, and was definitely worn down with age, showing signs of decay in the corners and crevices. Still, the roof, flooring, and walls all looked sturdy enough. Someone had been keeping this place in relatively good condition, which was slightly disconcerting, given that it was supposedly abandoned some time ago.

Shinichi glanced over at Kaito, who had at some point returned to his fox form, seemingly satisfied that they were far away from society now. The tufted detective pursed his lips a bit, noticing Kaito was sniffing around the area just aside the doorway. Shinichi picked up on the strangely nostalgic feeling coming from him, though his expression was entirely unreadable.

Shinichi kneeled down next to Kaito, tipping his head to the side. "Whatcha up to? Find an interesting scent?"

Kaito turned to him, looking dazed. _"You could say that. It's… I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's familiar. Like something from a distant memory. I think I know it, but I'm not sure from when and where."_

Shinichi merely nodded, understanding on a certain level. He could somewhat sense what Kaito was feeling, after all. With that thought in mind, Shinichi chose to let Kaito do all the sniffing he needed; taking in the strange sense of nostalgia radiating off from him.

"Has someone been here recently? Are there any newer scents?" Shinichi questioned, knowing it very well could, or could not be, a reason for the nostalgia. He was curious as well, it seemed as if someone had been coming on a regular basis to do repairs and take care of the obviously old cabin, if the outside was any indication.

" _There is a newer scent… It's layered over the same scent, so it does seem that someone comes here semi frequently. My best guess is the last time they came here was a few months ago. I don't think they're any danger to us, though I couldn't tell you why..."_ Kaito reported, lifting up his head and snorting definitively.

Shinichi paused, taking in this information. "Hmm, if it's the same scent… It's unlikely it's just some random stranger staying here from time to time. Does anyone else know about this place? Your mom, perhaps?" Shinichi suggested, not able to come up with anyone else familiar who might know of the KID hideout off the top of his head.

" _My mom…? Could be… I guess "_ Kaito's expression grew a bit distant at this, his brows coming together as if he were thinking deeply about something.

Shinichi watched carefully, semi-subconsciously probing Kaito's mind for some hint of what might be causing this expression change. He found himself inadvertently reaching his hand out to touch Kaito, fingers curling and uncurling as he grasped for the magician.

He nearly jumped as an image of a young looking, red-haired woman stood next to where Kaito was sitting. She had two, long fox tails protruding from her hind end, and a set of red fox ears placed where her human ears should be. She had a wide smile on her face, as she held a small bundle of white fur. There was also the sense that there was someone standing next to her…

"Welcome to our new home away from home, little one." The vixen woman spoke softly to the white clump of fur in her hand, who then raised its head, giving a small squeak in response. Its tiny tail gave a small wag, and it licked the vixen's face happily, seeming excited. She gave a soft response, nuzzling her child joyfully.

"You first, milady, and our handsome little gentleman." Suddenly, the figure who had been unseen in the initial vision stepped forward, revealing a man who looked exactly like the one in the picture on Kaito's wall, just without all the magician's garb. He smiled handsomely, gesturing toward the door he had just opened. Shinichi then realized what this must be.

" _Oyaji?_ " Came a voice to Shinichi's left. He turned to see Kaito sitting on his haunches, watching the scene alongside him, though after a little focusing he noticed something odd about his form. It was translucent. Glancing down at his own form, he found much of the same.

Kai's form got up, creeping closer to the door, aimlessly following the other figures as they went inside. "Wait!" Shinichi called to him, his voice coming out distant and echoed.

Kaito paused in the doorway, turning back to face him. He blinked at him. _"Shinichi? This place...I remember it now! Come on, I'll show you!"_

Shinichi felt himself pulled forward by strong teeth on his pant leg and dragged inside the cabin, which looked far less worn than when they arrived earlier. Inside, he found himself staring at the main room. It was more spacious than he would have imagined from what he had seen of the exterior. There was a traditional Japanese entryway, but the rest of the interior seemed to have a modern-rustic European theme.

Shinichi tried to match what he knew of Kaito's family with what he saw here. Everything was rather simple and yet homely looking, rather alike the Kuroba's main household. The room was dimly lit by some intriguing lamps, that had activated the moment the Kuroba's stepped into the room. Shinichi didn't know much about magic, but if he had to guess, the lamps flames were likely made of fox-fire.

Kaito ran about, excitedly following the visions of his parents and presumably younger self through the main room and to the kitchen. Shinichi followed a bit more reluctantly, taking everything in, but feeling a bit out of place. Shinichi soon managed to catch up to his excited companion, who was standing in the kitchen, watching a scene carry out.

Kaito's mother was cradling the young fox in her arms as she stood near the stove. "You should let me take care of the cooking, dearest…" came the deep voice of Kaito's father. Shinichi felt Kaito tense at the voice, and he could feel the sudden mixture emotions flowing through him, strong and painful.

"I'm fine, my love. Though, if you would like to take Kai for a moment? I won't burn him, but I'd still rather not take any chances." Kaito's mother held out the tiny white bundle, who grinned a sharp toothy grin towards his father, eyes sparkling and tail wagging.

Kaito's father beamed back at him, quickly taking him in his strong arms. "I'll settle for that," he said with a chuckle. As he took the young kit in his arms, his image seemed to flicker a bit before fading, as the present Kaito let off a hoard of emotions next to him. There was a lingering scent coming from the stove and Shinichi could still see ghostly hands moving a pan above a flame, but Kaito had moved on, exploring further in.

Shinichi followed, still feeling nagging emotions drifting off from Kaito. However, they quickly faded as Shinichi found himself staring upwards at a sizely loft area on one end of the cabin. A wooden staircase lead upwards, and he could see a small blur of white climbing it.

Shinichi followed in silence, treading up the stairs. Though his feet made no sound, he felt as if he could hear each individual steps creaks beneath him. He quickly found himself staring at the loft area, standing next to Kaito, who was staring at the bed before him. Moonlight streamed in through the single rooftop window, illuminating the floor in an eerie glow. There was a smaller bed to the side of the queen size one, in which the little fox lay.

The white kit moved about restlessly on the equally white sheets, pounding them with tiny paws. _"I never liked that bed…"_ Shinichi turned towards Kaito, who had an amused yet nostalgic smile on his face. _"Though, I rarely actually slept on it. I usually just…"_ Kaito's voice trailed off as the young fox jumped from the smaller bed to the larger where the two other figures were.

Shinichi watched as the figures stirred, Kaito's parents looking down at the younger him with blank expressions. There were whispered conversations between the family, though the words in this case came out garbled.

"Spoil him," came an audible grumble from Kaito's mother.

"One night..." Kaito's father answered in a fading, mysterious voice, which quickly muted itself.

The little kit seemed to be paying little attention to what his parents were talking about, instead running up and down along the bed before nuzzling next to his mother's head, looking ready to settle right there, before darting off again.

Kaito's mother let out a long sigh as she sat up on the bed. His father shook his head, grabbing hold of the young kit in his arms before standing. "You sleep, mylady. I'll take care of this one."

Kaito's father got up, carrying an excited kit in his arms. Shinichi began to follow, before the vision started to waver again, misting over, before fading to complete blackness.

~^.v.^~

At that same moment, Shinichi felt a sharp pain flow through his body, starting at his head. He had a vague and disturbing feeling that his bones were repositioning themselves and melting in a chorus of agony. It was as if the APTX were happening all over again, but instead, his skin had a tingly feeling, and he had this vague sense he was going through an even more drastic change than before.

As he felt himself hit the ground, he heard the fuzzy voice of Kaito crying out in shock, then calling out to him in worry. He did his best to open his eyes to look at the kitsune, but as soon as he managed to lift his eyelids a crack, an intense pain flowed through his skull, causing him to let out a small whimper and squint his eyes shut once more.

He could feel a blurriness taking over his mind, and he knew immediately he was about to pass out. This feeling passed rather quickly however, and he soon felt as if he could breath again, move again, think again. It was such a relieving feeling, he knew that had to have been some of the worse pain he had ever been through, counting the APTX and being shot in the cave that one time...

Distantly and suddenly, he felt himself being called to then shaken, rousing him from his thoughts. "Oi! Tantei-kun! Oi, I know you can hear me! Are you doing alright in there? Come on say something..."

" _There's no need to yell…"_ Shinichi said lightly, slowly opening his eyes, but he ended up choking on his words. He took in Kaito's concerned face before him. Sometime during the interim of those odd dream-like images and waking up, Kaito had gone back into his human child form. " _I...can hear you just...fine…?"_ There was something definitely wrong with his throat. The words were coming out peculiar-sounding almost like a...No it couldn't be.

He slowly lifted a hand upwards gazing down at his wrist where his watch hung slightly loose. Sheesh, the world really did seem to hate him; for down his much too long, newly black furred muzzle, there was a red-socked, fluffy wrist attached to a clawed paw. Great, just perfect. Now, on top of shrinking, and later finding out he was a wizard of all things, he had suddenly transformed into a fox. " _Kaito, I'm a fox_."

Kaito blinked at him clearly a bit dumbfounded himself. Though, he held a completely blank expression."Yeah…kinda noticed that," Kaito gave an unsure laugh, sweat dropping. "I mean...It could be worse?"

Shinichi gave him a glower, pursing his lips as best as any fox could. " _Not helping in the least."_ The fox detective then tried to lift himself to his paws, only to have his legs give out weakly under him. He then realized just how sapped of strength he was feeling at the moment. He didn't know if it was the transformation, or the magic at this point, but he was definitely going to find out soon. " _Umm, you know what would help? If you could get me over to that window, that would be great."_

Kaito nodded, lifting Shinichi carefully off the ground after standing up himself. He then proceeded to carry Shinichi over to the windowsill, so the little fox detective could get a good look at himself. Once there, Shinichi tensed a bit.

" _So. I really have turned into a small fox. A black and red fox… That's wonderful. I can't even blend in with regular foxes in this state, much less humans._ " He let out a reluctant sigh, shaking his head a bit. All he could do now was accept it… He cursed under his breath, the sound coming out like a snort. This was completely insane! What cruel entity had decided to give him such a fate as this?

He had a small urge to just lay down, close his eyes, and give up until all this crap magically ended, but he knew that wasn't truly an option. He might as well just try and find out why this happened, see if it was reversible, and never do whatever had caused it again.

~^.v.^~

"Well. That was quite an interesting little spectacle there. Would you mind explaining it to me? Since you made me wait for what... How long has it been now... Three hours? All spent on this tree, watching to see if you would both make it out alive," Draven cawed, causing Kaito and the Conan-fox to both whip to face him, and he leaned himself down, closer to the duo. His thoughts swirled actively with intense curiosity and quite a bit of worry as well, though he hid the latter away as best he could.

Conan moved his mouth a few times, obviously trying to find words to describe what had just occurred. Though, Draven became slightly confused when the black kit tilted his head to the side confused. " _Did you understand any of that?"_ he barked out.

"I got nothing. I may take care of doves, but that doesn't mean I can speak bird...Wait, couldn't you understand him earlier?" Kaito replied looking just as baffled as Conan.

The boy had a point...Earlier the shrunken teenager, now fox, had been able to understand and even speak Draven's home language. Now, however, if the confused look on his face was any indication, he didn't seem to comprehend Draven's words any longer.

Interesting. So they were both ignorant in this case. Conan gave an unsure laugh, coming out as a few barks in a row, clearly not taking this new development well. Draven himself understood several languages due to his own abilities, combined with his Mistress' knowledge. It was how he was able to follow their conversation now, even with one in fox form.

It would probably be easier to do things that way then...

Draven harrumphed, the sound coming out as more of a coughing guffaw. "I suppose as neither one of you would probably have the answer to the question I just asked...Shall I give you my best guess as to what just happened then?" he spoke in perfectly accented Japanese, mimicking the language his Mistress often spoke with. The small duo flinched at his sudden use of their language, so it was fairly certain they both understood him.

Shinichi and Kaito glanced briefly at each other, locking gazes before nodding simultaneously and turning back to face Draven. " _Go on… It's pretty clear you know more about this than we do_ ," Conan said cautiously, eyes narrowing.

Draven puffed up his feathers in a bit of a prideful display. "I should hope so. I've been around a good many more years than you, after all." Draven opened and closed his eyes, an eerie expression on his bird face.

Reopening his eyes fully, he stared hard at the strange shrunken-wizard-turned-fox. "You, mind-magic wizard, are an interesting one, just as my Mistress thought." He pointed at Conan with his left wing. "Most wizards take years to pull off what you have just done. Even coming from a familiar bond, such a thing should not be possible for one so young."

Both shared confused expressions and Kaito motioned for him to continue. "And what exactly did he do?"

Draven lowered his eyes briefly at Kaito before letting out a huffing sigh. "Patience, kit. I was getting to that. It seems as if your master reached into the very depths of your mind. He synced his thoughts with your own, essentially melding them together in a magical link. If I had to guess he saw some of your deeply repressed thoughts, or rather, memories. Unless I miss my mark."

Once again, the two shared temporarily identical and puzzled expressions, though Conan's quickly switched to something more contemplative, while Draven was certain he saw something resembling abject horror in Kaito's eyes. It quickly passed, however, emotion draining from his expression, and yet it still held a touch of curiosity.

Conan's brow furrowed, and a note of fear reentered his eyes. " _So...I used magic and probed Kaito's mind without my knowing it? Tell me that this is a thing I can control...at some point. Sooner is more preferable, though_." Something a bit pleading crossed his face, before he gave a gulp, biting his fox lip.

Draven kept his expression limited to only mild frustration, despite the fact that he felt several emotions passing at once, worry first and foremost. He shook his head, feeling exasperated. He reflected on his mistress' earlier sentiments. How could a wizard so powerful be so very untrained? Did he even realize how dangerous the magic he had used was?

Draven shook his head again, he could feel his feathers ruffle. Just what had his Mistress gotten him into? It was clear he had his work cut out for him here. Not only would he have to defend these two from outside forces, but from themselves as well.

Letting out a crackled sigh, he stared into the eyes of the two young magic users. "Very well, I shall answer your question. However, it would be best if we retired inside beforehand. While I do not mind the open air out here, I would recommend, kit, that you get your Master to some place a bit more...comfortable. He looks about ready to collapse, not that that is surprising given the circumstances."

Indeed, the young wizard turned kit was barely standing on shaky legs. This further confirmed Draven's theory as to what had just occurred. He sighed, and hovered above the pair.

Kaito stared up at him. "Could you...transform for a moment and hold on to him? I can't open the door and hold him at the same time." It was very subtle, but Draven could hear hints of exhaustion in Kaito's voice, though his face still remained blank.

Nodding quietly, Draven morphed himself into one of his favored forms, his wolf form, and used his mouth to lift Shinichi by the scruff, much to the tiny fox's displeasure. Draven fought to keep Conan in his mouth as he let out a tiny yip of surprise and proceeded to struggle as much as he could in his weakened state. After giving a few small wriggles, he kicked out as hard as he could, then went still with a small, weary growl.

Kaito quickly pulled a key out of nowhere, the bit of mundane magic not tricking Draven's trained eye for a second, then unlocked the door, opening it to let Conan and Draven inside.

Kaito was quick to follow them in, pulling out a battery operated lantern as he came into the living area. He then did a quick scan of the room, brow furrowed, before waving at Draven to follow him. They went past the kitchen, and through a narrow hallway, reaching a wooden staircase. Kaito led them up the stairs, Draven leaping up with ease in his shape-shifted body, Conan still hanging limp. They reached a lovely wood loft with a large western style bed. It looked as though it hadn't been used in some time.

Once up, he set Conan down onto the covers of the bed, noticing that his eyes were starting to droop. "Alright, I'll explain it more in depth tomorrow, but to be brief for the time being; you can learn to control your powers. You will merely need a little bit of training to get yourself started, more intense training at a later time. That is the main reason I am here, to give you that starting step into your magical abilities. But, I shall save the rest of that for tomorrow. For now, get rest, and recover your magic, young wizard."

" _One other question_ …" Conan bit out weakly, slouching onto the sheets. " _This...Form...Is it temporary? How is it even possible?"_

Draven snorted. "That's two questions, little wizard...And I'm afraid even I don't have all the answers." This was the honest truth. He had been pretty baffled at the sudden transformation himself, though truthfully, he did have yet another theory in that regard. That could wait a little to be revealed, however. He needed to get a more solid idea, and maybe a bit of evidence, so he could be confident in the theory first.

Conan didn't seem quite satisfied with his answer, but was obviously too tired to argue further as his eyes fell completely shut and he snuggled into the sheets. Kaito sat there beside him, though his expression remained unreadable, it was pretty clear he was still worried.

Draven shook his head tiredly. There was nothing more he could do tonight. Even if he attempted to explain his theory to Kaito it would likely only worry him further. "Well I think it's time I retire for the night." Kaito glanced up briefly at this, looking suspicious and a little angry. "Take my advice, kit, and follow suit. There is nothing more we can do tonight. I promise I will show you more in the morning. Though I'm unsure how much your master will be able to follow in that state."

Kaito quirked an eyebrow in suspicion, but he quickly consented, obviously tired himself. On that note, Draven nodded lightly and was off; back to the great outdoors. It was not long before the three fell into deep sleep.

~^.v.^~

 **POST NOTE**

 **LS: So this chapter was a bit of a tricky one we went through much debate about the introduction of Shin fox. Even considered deleting him altogether at one point. However in the end it was an opportunity we couldn't pass up.**

 **Needless to say this probably isn't the last you'll be seeing of him, but don't expect him to play TOO pivotal a role here. Hope yall enjoyed a glance into Shinichis magic! I promise we will hopefully be getting into more of Kais in the future. Please leave all comments/concerns in a review they are much appreciated and we will do our best to reply as promptly as possible! See yall next chapter!**


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